New Digital Devices

Well 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 much like a family gathering around a new baby. 

Anyhoo, I've been in the process over the last few days of setting up the phone the way I like it, the way I want it to look, the way I want it to work, and I've made some decisions, I decided not to install a couple of apps that I had on my old phone, mainly in the social media realm, the two biggest offenders being Facebook, and Instagram. 

I figure out that I can access them on my desktop through Chrome, I can log into them there, without having to have the app. I believe the apps are a lot more intrusive, for example, and I'm using this example very loosely, I can discuss purple tomatoes, and an hour later, I have ads on my Facebook app for purple tomatoes, now they tell us that they are not listening to us, and trust me I have not done a Google search for purple tomatoes, and yet there are the ads are, popping up in my face saying look at me, look at me... So I'm going to see how this works now using the browser to log in and access those two specific apps, and see just what happens. 

Something I noticed was going on with my last phone, I have a driving app call Onmyway that tracks my driving without me being on my phone (gives me points), I also have an app that will shut off anything running in the background, so I noticed that every time I would start up the driving app, Facebook would also become active in the background, I would shut Facebook off, and I don't mean just minimizing it, I mean actually forcing it to stop, on a few minutes later it seems the driving app has pulled up Facebook again. 

I have searched high and low to try to figure out why this driving app is also starting Facebook in the background, and I can't find anything about it, no one else seems to have said anything online about it, I'm not real happy about that, so if the Facebook app is no longer on my phone, then no other apps can pull it up and have it running in the background for whatever reason. 

Am I paranoid? Probably a little bit, do I have a reason to be? Probably. I'm not ready to give up Facebook, at least not yet, I do use it to keep up with family and friends, I also run a handful of groups, it's nice to have around.

So my new phone, it is the Samsung S22 Ultra, the phone itself is physically pretty big, I'm going to have to dig out my old LG v20 and see if it's the same size or bigger, this looks like it's a little bit bigger, definitely heavy. I want to get back into phone photography or they call that, phonetography? Whatever it's called I enjoy doing it, and have seriously missed having a phone with really really good cameras and really really good apps to take and edit the pictures.

I am hoping this week to get out and get some good pictures, you will see them when I do. So tell me, did you jump on the new Samsung devices bandwagon? If so what did you get? Do you have it yet? 

When I ordered this phone I was able to get a few accessories to go with it, so I ordered this silicone case, I'm not extremely happy with it oh, it does protect the phone, I feel a lot better about it if I drop it while it has this case on it, and I like the color, it's kind of a light olive green color, easy to put on easy to take off, the thing I don't care about is it's actually is kind of slick, meaning as I'm holding this somewhat heavy phone, I feel it slowly sliding through my fingers, so I ordered a couple of new cases, they were fairly inexpensive so I didn't mind ordering two, I'm hoping to find one that I really like, these two cases seem to have some extra texture or something like that on the edges the side edges so that I don't feel like I'm going to drop my phone. 

So this phone the Galaxy Series it seems that they have combined it with the Note series, so it has a built-in S Pen, and I've had a really good time playing with that. The pen itself is rather small, which is fine, to fit inside of the phone you need something small, I do wish it had some sort of a texture on it, it is somewhat slick but since it's lightweight oh, I don't worry about it dropping out of my fingers.

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Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Being 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 nights. Living off grid we don't have utilities that generate heat, meaning no gas heater, no electric heater either, instead we use wood to heat the SkyCastle. Anyone who relies exclusively on wood heat knows that you generally have to get up at least once in the night to stoke the fire to keep a consistent temperature going, welllll we don't do that, not regularly, unless it's going to be really REALLY cold. We tend to get a fire going then we nearly shut it down for the night. The outdoor temps drop seriously overnight, inside of the SkyCastle, especially in the bedroom, it might get down in the 30s and 40s, I remember one morning it was so cold in the bedroom that my tablet refused to charge because of the cold. So how do we stay warm overnight you ask?

This is something I have worked on and developed over the years, the first thing we did was to wear good sleeping clothing, lots of layers, I like having one or two layers of thermal underwear, the kind that has the waffle pattern, I can slip on a sweatshirt and pants if necessary. I wear socks, if it's really cold I'll add another pair of wool socks, I also have my "sleeping jacket", a lightweight zipper hoodie, I can pop on the hood if it's really cold. 

The blankets are an important part of keeping warm overnight, in the early years out here, I treated my bed like I was still living in the city with regular utilities, I would add more blankets as needed, but eventually I'd have a thick, heavy multi-layered monstrosity that really didn't keep me warm, especially my feet. That's when I discovered wool blankets. Those were a game changer, I would layer one or two wool blankets with my other fuzzy soft blankets and I was much warmer. But it still wasn't perfect, I would add one or two hot water bottles, those work really well, but they are a bit of a pain to get setup, it takes some time to boil all the water needed, but the payoff was worth it.

Last year, I got a 100% down king sized comforter and a couple of duvet covers. Now talk about a game changer, this is it! They are expensive, but honestly I've not had to add anything else to my bed this winter, that single down blanket keeps me toasty warm, I double it over and slip into it like it's a sleeping bag. It even keeps my feet warm, and it's, well, light as a feather... The blanket itself if quite thick, it's 3-4 inches thick and is loaded with down fluff.

So tonight, it's about 1:30am right now, I'm looking at the weather station and it says it's 50 degrees F outside and going up, it was a bit of a chilly day today and the temp did drop down into the mid 40s once it got dark, but it seems like it's moving up. Inside the living room area it's 63 degrees F and it's quite comfy. It's funny, last fall this temp would have felt cold, I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I do have a light blanket wrapped around my shoulders, mainly for my arms, PB has the woodstove going on a low burn, I know when he gets up later on he's going to comment on how warm it is.

Whatever the temp is in the morning when I get up to go to work, PB will warm up the main room which encompasses the living room and kitchen area, that's where I get ready for work, since it's reset season where I work as a merchandiser, I need to get up early to go to work because of the longer work days. 

That's how my winter has gone, there are many more exciting changes that are going on right now, I'll write about them soon, for now, I need to go to bed, I just wanted to pop in and give an update on things. Goodnight!

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

First sick of 2022

Dang 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 done this week, so I got up washed my face, put up a big girl britches and went to work. It just about kicked my butt, but I'm glad I got it done, I'm sure the companies I work for also glad I got it done.

I'm also glad it was this week, and not happening anytime in the near future, the kind of work I do, I'm about to get real busy, it's reset season. This is actually my slowest week, something I normally wouldn't enjoy, but this week I'm eternally grateful. 

So what do I attribute to my extended health for almost 2 years? Well I started doing a thing called intermittent fasting almost 2 years ago now, unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you've heard of it, I basically eat once a day, I don't restrict what I eat or how much I eat, one can only eat so much in one setting so there's pretty much no way I can over eat, I just restrict the time that I eat.

I won't go into any detail right now about intermittent fasting it's easy enough to look up, I suggest looking up Gin Stephens, I like her method. 

Anyhoo, all week has been me basically in bed, not doing much, PB has been hiding, he does not want to get sick and I don't blame him. Fortunately the weather's been pretty mild, PB is pretty typically in charge of building fires to keep us warm, only been one night that it's gotten really cold down into the 20s... and I have really good sleeping gear, my favorite part of it, is a king size 100% down comforter, I have it folded in half on my bed and I use it kind of like a sleeping bag, it can get cold in this room like down in the 20's and 30's on the inside, and I'm still toasty warm inside this down burrito. Right now it's 54 degrees inside the room, no fire in the wood stove, I just don't need it. 

I try to hide out when I get sick, I know are animals do that too, I just don't know why people do it, but I do it, a few people around me are starting to find out that I've been sick, very sweet friend and neighbor found out I was sick today and message me to ask me if I wanted some homemade chicken noodle soup. I happen to know this lady is a really good cook, and anything that she would bring over would be very tasty, and yet my knee-jerk reaction was to say no thank you I'm fine. I even started writing that in the message, and then deleted most of it before I sent it, I graciously accepted her offer, besides the fact that I know it's going to be really good, I also know how good it is to give and receive hospitality and kindness, and I need to get better at the receiving part, LOL. 

So the few people who do know that I'm sick, very first question that they have for me, is what is it? They want to know if it's the thing that's all in the news, and I don't believe it is, whatever this is it's been very mild, mostly scratchy throat, I've had a fever a couple of times that I felt, and a whole lot of being tired. In the past I've gotten sick oh maybe once or twice a year, and it almost always has to do with coughing sore throat that kind of thing, are pretty typically get over it pretty fast, I guess this is just making up for me not being sick for a couple of years. If you do wish to comment about this, please do not use the "C" word, it's not what I have, and I don't want that word floating around on this blog, thank you.

So I hope everybody's January has been going well, I know I have some people still reading this, leave me a comment say hi, let me know how everything's doing. Thanks for reading!

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Happy 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 you. I was thrilled to find out that the house sold to a friend.

Today she came out to look at the house in detail, she had been inside of it many MANY years ago when it belonged to my good friend and neighbor Glen, she had since moved away from the neighborhood, I kept in contact with her but didn't see her or talk to her as often as I did when she lived out here.

The property on the other side of me had also been put up for sale last year, fortunately for us my brother in law bought it, so I'm happy to know (trust and like) my neighbors on both sides.

Weather......

It's been quite warm, and breezy these last few weeks, but tonight there is a major cold front moving in, the temps are dropping, it even snowed/sleeted a tiny bit, I could hear it hitting the roof, I went outside to check it out, I could see stars in the sky, I still don't know where that moisture was coming from, I don't expect to see white in the morning, it's just going to be cold, supposed to get down in the mid teens. I can still hear the wind blowing, that's supposed to let up overnight, that's a good thing, we can build a fire to warm the house in the morning before church. It's hard to have a fire in the woodstove when it's really windy, it pushes the smoke back into the house.

I drained all the outside pipes, there isn't much to drain, our system is still pretty small, but it's important to get it done if it's going to really freeze overnight, which it is. I also drain the washing machine, the front of the machine has been removed and PB installed a drain so that the water that would sit in the bottom parts can be drained, it's typically less than a half gallon of liquid, but it's enough to cause trouble if it freezes. The washer is sitting out in an enclosed but unheated space, it's protected from the weather, but is subject to the outside temps.

I also drain the water line that goes to the washing machine, next I drain the shower, and if it's going to get really REALLY cold, I drain the inside water lines. Our system is pretty small and simple, but ingenious, it can drain back into the water tank without losing a drop of water, then the pump inside the house can pull the water back into the inside system in around 30 seconds.

Again, I hope you have a good weekend and I wish you a wonderful, peaceful, happy and prosperous New Year for 2022!

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Whew!!!!! 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 batteries, specifically BattleBorn brand batteries. These have been a game changer for us, no more worrying about the lifespan of our batteries, no more worrying about running the system down.

Here are a few pictures so you can see what's been going on with me:

So, what is going on with y'all?????? Let me know!

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

One More Radiator

I 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 did some work to corral the things up in front that were no longer properly attached where they should be. The repair lasted quite a while, then last January my radiator finally sprung a leak and had to be replaced.

Now, fast forward to this week, Tuesday to be exact, I was heading to work, I stopped by the mailboxes by the main highway, it's a near 6 mile drive to get that far. I saw a friend there, I hopped out to speak to her and check my mail. About 10 minutes later, as I was about to get back into my truck, I noticed green fluid dripping from under the front end.

That meant only one thing, I wasn't going to work that day. I pulled a U-turn and went straight back to the SkyCastle to get PB. The leak wasn't major so I didn't lose too much fluid, but I definitely wasn't going to be driving around west Texas, especially in the heat we are having right now.

I couple of phone calls later, I had another radiator lined up 2 towns over and scored a ride with a friend to go pick up the parts. I will admit that it was nice to be riding in big truck with air conditioning! Some day I'll fix mine, but for now, I'm just not willing to part with the $$$.

I spent the rest of the day watching about half of my neighborhood working on my truck, it truly was a group effort! I greatly appreciate my neighbors/friends, they really come together when it's time to help. The photo shows 3 of the 4 men who worked to get my new radiator installed.

It was Darryl, Dale and PB, Rex showed up later, everyone had a part in working on the truck (Thanks everyone!!!!). The reason the first and second radiator failed was because of the frame that holds the radiator secure had broken at the bottom (from the original damage caused by the elk), it allowed the radiator(s) to move and rubbed a hole in the bottom. A bit of reconstructive surgery on that part and I don't expect my radiator will move like that again.

It was imperative that my truck be running by the end of the day, I had a "date" with my glasses boss the following morning at 8:30 in the next town over. We had some work to do in a couple of stores and he was coming from Lubbock, I couldn't bow out of it.

Fortunately, I was able to get on the road the following day with nary a drip, the gauge read in the perfect range (it's the upper gauge)

I feel very blessed to have a great hubby (PB) and great friends. I did have to rearrange my jobs for the week, but got everything done with no problems. Now it's time to enjoy the weekend.

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Memorial 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 night is a plus. In fact, it often gets cold at night, so I am able to sleep well.

One of the ways I escape the heat is to go under the SkyCastle, being partially buried underground, it's cave like properties means it's cool during the heat of the day, I can't wait for that space to be finished so we can spend more time down there.

I had a visit from my daughter, her husband and 2 of my grands over the weekend, it was nice, though I wish it had been a bit cooler during the day. We didn't do a lot, mostly just visited. They live less than 2 hours away so it's not difficult for them to come out here. We had a BBQ on Saturday evening and we all went to church on Sunday.

Another fun thing we did was we went scorpion hunting. I have several UV LED (blacklight) flashlights, the scorpions light up like a kid's cheap glow in the dark toy. My daughter and I found 3 scorpions near the SkyCastle then later all of us found a couple more of them at the neighbor's house.

I spent Monday recooperating from the visit, I enjoyed it, but I also need my quiet time. I am about to go to sleep, I have a rather lite week at work this week, a nice change from the insane schedules of reset season. Next week picks back up again.

I hope everyone had a thoughtful and enjoyable Memorial Day. I am ready to get back into my semi-regular routine 😊


All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

I'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 rot or burn, critters can't burrow into it, this will last our lifetime and whoever ends up with this place after we are gone.

I'm working for the same merchandising company, I've had my own territory for a couple of years now and loving it. We are at the tail end of "reset season "where we are super busy moving things around in the Dollar General stores, yes I'm that person ;)

We still have both dogs, Casper and Zoe. Casper has grown old, he was getting old when he adopted us, now he's blind but gets around just fine. Zoe has grown up into a fine mountain dog. She is in her middle age now, I look at pictures of her when we first got her, we thought she was full grown, but it's obvious that she was still very much a pup then.

The SkyCastle has become quite the neighborhood gathering spot, especially on Friday, our friends & neighbors stop by for drinks, the occasional BBQ, and just general fun. Sometimes it's just a few people, sometimes it's a crowd  it's always fun.

Those of you who have followed me before know that I'm into alternative health, though honestly it should really be considered real Healthcare as it's what our ancestors did long before modern medicine...  Not knocking modern medicine though, if I'm in a car wreck or break a bone, you'd better believe I want a qualified doctor and medical staff attending my injuries.

But for everyday health, I'm more interested in natural Healthcare. Something I've recently gotten interested in is CBD oil. Let me say up front, I'm not a pot smoker, I haven't done that since I was as a curious teen, though I do wish the powers that be would go ahead and legalize it, or at the very least, decriminalize it.

I have tried CBD oil (the legal stuff made from Hemp) and like the results I've gotten from it. I'm in the process of finding a company that I want to do business with. They must have a product that works, is affordable and has a good business platform.

What is your opinion on CBD oil? Have you tried it? Would you be willing to try it? I'll write more about it in the near future.


All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

CRE8365

Hey 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 other folk, I procrastinate, I THINK about creative things each and everyday, but allow life to fill all the nooks and crannies of my daily routine.... this site encourages, this site prompts, this site teaches, this site allows you to be creative everyday....  right now, the membership is small so it's easy to get to know everyone, but it's growing each and everyday.

I create something each day and post it there, the other members do the same, we share, we critique (that's NOT a bad thing), we encourage each other. If you can't think of something for the day, there are a list of daily prompts, today's prompt is "house plant", I'm really likely to post a picture of a plant I have inside that just happens to be blooming.

If you can draw, or not, stick figures are welcome, as well as digital art, there are varying levels of talent there, everyone has a good time sharing their daily creations. Check it out, join up, it's free and it's definitely fun!

http://cre8365.com/

When you visit, be sure to check out the forums, that's where most of the action happens. You can see my daily art posts here
http://www.pinterest.com/wrethaoffgrid/cre8365/
and my art blog
http://westtexasdoodleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/CRE8365 
I hope to see you there :)

#CRE8365



All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Here I am....

Hmmm, I really thought I'd written something here since October, but apparently I haven't, shame on me :)

So here I am, back again, let me tell you what has been going on since Oct., that job I was working and LOVED, well it has fizzled, turns out there isn't enough work for 2 people in this area, although the 2 of us seemed to be doing just fine, apparently the boss' boss doesn't agree. I am still on the payroll and will still do team jobs, but for now it's just slow going. So I decided to take a bit of time off from working, mainly on account of finding a long lost friend.

A couple of months ago, I did a search on FaceBook for a friend I knew back when I was 12-13 years old, long story short, I found her! And it happened that she was going to be passing through around Christmas, she agreed to dip a bit further south and stop in for a visit.

She spent a few days here and it was so much fun, we picked up right where we left off, it is amazing the similarities of our lives since we were parted so many years ago. She must have some gypsy in her blood, she loves to travel and does so, living in her full size van, she lives off grid too, but mobile. Now we will be one of her stops when she passes through this part of the country.

Another tidbit of info, on Dec 22, we celebrated our 8th year living off grid, it's hard to imagine that it's been 8 years, and yet, I almost can't remember our life before this, I certainly can't imagine living any other way. Even with the so called inconveniences of living off grid, I wouldn't go back to city life for all the money in the world.

Tonight I sit here, next to the wood burning stove, it's frigid outside, it would be considered cold inside by most people's standards, but I'm happy, happy, happy!

As far as working goes, I'm still employed by that merchandising company, but chances are I'll be going back to work as a caretaker for my friend, we have taken a break from that and it's time to get back to doing that job, even though I don't consider it a "job", I enjoy doing it, wish there was more money in it, but there are other rewards :)

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!






All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!