Not a "New" Member, but I've been away for months....

[Gazrok]

We used to have a small ranch about a mile outside of a small town, but we recently (6 months ago), downsized to a small, 3 bedroom manufactured home on the outskirts of a major city. We have a decent-sized yard, though a far cry from the acreage of the ranch. Still, hoping to start doing some prepper steps soon. Next spring will be the garden, and we hope to add some sheds for some additional storage soon. Hoping to plant some fruit trees by end of the year.

We're more prepping for economic issues (and maintaining a level of comfort, ease, and self-sustainability) vs. some kind of all-encompassing doomsday. Wife and I are just in our 50's, and our daughter isn't going to have such interests, so really, we just want to be able to more easily survive disruptions like losing income streams, etc. Luckily, this smaller place is fully paid for, so not having a mortgage is a great step there! It's cozy, but nice, with lots of nice amenities like a wood-burning fireplace, good-sized kitchen, and huge master bath with a nice garden tub, so in lots of ways, better than our last place (though the wife wouldn't agree).

But, everything is new, and working here, which is much better than having to replace a roof, redo the electrical and plumbing, septic, etc. like we would have if we stayed on the ranch. It was simply too much money to pour into that old house. We wisely moved on.

Short-term goals are more focused on security, now with closer neighbors, such as adding a good security system soon. Also adding all kinds of "smart" stuff. I know, I know, most of the more conspiracy-minded are worried about big brother, but honestly, if you're in the system, they have it all anyhow. Besides, it's just a simple flick of the router switch for all the "smart" stuff to go stupid, if it was really a concern.

At least I don't have to mess around with feeding and turning the horses in and out anymore. Done with that. All we have now is our deceased son's snake, a couple of Chihuahuas, 2 big dogs, and a few cats. So no longer the full menagerie my wife had at the ranch!

Power-wise, eventually we'll go with a Generac and some solar, at least until our local utility "allows" for the installation of an off-grid switch. Ours currently doesn't, so going to solar is a moot point, as you wouldn't have it in a power outage (as stupid as that is). Anyhow, thanks for reading all this if you did!

 

[Danil54grl]

Glad you are doing ok Gaz! I know the ranch was a lot to handle plus having your "real jobs". I do totally understand. Hopefully this new move will make it easier for both you and your wife. I would definitely put in some fruit trees along with as big of a garden that you can handle.

 

[Danil54grl]

Feed prices right now is outrageous right now. We are hoping to sell off some of my "big boys", but this is yet to be seen.

 

[grayghost668]

I thought you were gone,,,,,I could not relocate to a smaller place,,, the animals are income for me and if they were gone I would have to get some kind of job that would put me around to many people,,,,, I have not been sick at all since 2019,,,,, but as long as you are happy that is all that matters

 

[MNwr786]

Power-wise, eventually we'll go with a Generac and some solar, at least until our local utility "allows" for the installation of an off-grid switch. Ours currently doesn't, so going to solar is a moot point, as you wouldn't have it in a power outage (as stupid as that is). Anyhow, thanks for reading all this if you did!

Your utility will allow an "off-grid" switch (but thats not what it's called), that's a near certainty in Florida with hurricanes etc, but when you call it an "off-grid" switch, you scare the hell out of them because they know you have no idea what you are doing and they assume you could unknowingly and accidentally back feed the grid while linemen are working on damaged equipment.

It is called a "backfeed breaker" with interlock. The interlock is a sliding metal plate that prevents the generator backfeed breaker from being turned on while the main breaker is on. This ensures the main breaker is off while the generator is connected to the panel which prevents your generator power from getting to the transformer on your pole and sending thousands of volts down a line someone might be working on. Hire a licensed electrician that knows his stuff and you'll be wired up for backup in no time!

 

[Cindyd]

I have read a lot of your posts in the past...was wondering where ya went. Welcome back from a fellow Floridian.

 

[Robinjopo1]

Hey Gaz, I wondered what happened to you. I remember you boarded horses.

Hope you are enjoying your new home.

 

[DrHenley]

Good to hear from you Gaz!

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Howdy! I am kind of new here and look forward to getting to know you.

So glad that you found something that works for you. My husband and I are in our fifties as well and have a couple of small ranches that we bought with BO/BI in mind. I think I identify with your wife, I would feel lost without my menagerie. LOL.

 

[Buttoni]

Hello, from a prepper in Central TX who was on hiatus from the forums for a year as well. Just rejoined myself. Welcome back.

 

[Arcticdude]

Good to see you back Gaz. I thought maybe you were getting room and board at the big house. The wife and I have been talking about scaling down too. In fact we've already started. Since the kids aren't interested in the ranch we've sold off all of our non-contiguous land. We're looking for a house on a few acres up near the kids, or over at the coast. It would be nice to live in a less harsh climate.
Anyway, welcome back.

 

[Gazrok]

I thought you were gone,,,,,I could not relocate to a smaller place,,, the animals are income for me and if they were gone I would have to get some kind of job that would put me around to many people,,,,, I have not been sick at all since 2019,,,,, but as long as you are happy that is all that matters

Luckily, we've both worked from home now, since just before the pandemic (we kind of had some early warning due to a friend just barely getting out of Italy as it was all going down outside of the US...so we knew it was going to be bad).

It's been pretty nice actually, we have a room dedicated to being our game storage, geeked out office where each of us sits side-by-side at our own desk. We have a TV up on the wall for background stuff, our dogs at our feet. It's real convenient. Definitely a better way to work at our real jobs. My side-gig of writing RPG stuff for the Genesys game system trickles in some monthly income too. Not much, but it's something I enjoy doing, so that's cool. Especially since I never really expected to make money at it.

 

[Gazrok]

Good to see you back Gaz. I thought maybe you were getting room and board at the big house. The wife and I have been talking about scaling down too. In fact we've already started. Since the kids aren't interested in the ranch we've sold off all of our non-contiguous land. We're looking for a house on a few acres up near the kids, or over at the coast. It would be nice to live in a less harsh climate.
Anyway, welcome back.

Our horse boarders were notoriously bad at paying on time, so it made it pretty difficult to keep paying all the bills. If they had paid on time, we likely wouldn't have had an issue. But then, there was just SO much the property needed, just thousands upon thousands to fix (and that we didn't have), so we just didn't see it happening. We're like, just how much do we want to sink into this old place, when we could get a relatively new place without a mortgage? It was kind of a no-brainer after that.

 

[Gazrok]

We sold the diesel truck too, just way too much on gas, and way too expensive to repair all the time. Now, we have a new Pacifica van with all the bells and whistles, high-tech and all (damn thing can even park itself), and man, that is just a joy to drive. We had two different friends like ours so much, they got one themselves!

 

[Gazrok]

Hello, from a prepper in Central TX who was on hiatus from the forums for a year as well. Just rejoined myself. Welcome back.

Nice to let folks know we aren't dead, eh?

 

[Gazrok]

Howdy! I am kind of new here and look forward to getting to know you.

So glad that you found something that works for you. My husband and I are in our fifties as well and have a couple of small ranches that we bought with BO/BI in mind. I think I identify with your wife, I would feel lost without my menagerie. LOL.

Don't get me wrong, we still have 5 cats, 2 small dogs, 2 big dogs, and a snake, so we're not exactly menagerie-free..... lol

 

[Gazrok]

Your utility will allow an "off-grid" switch (but thats not what it's called), that's a near certainty in Florida with hurricanes etc, but when you call it an "off-grid" switch, you scare the hell out of them because they know you have no idea what you are doing and they assume you could unknowingly and accidentally back feed the grid while linemen are working on damaged equipment.

It is called a "backfeed breaker" with interlock. The interlock is a sliding metal plate that prevents the generator backfeed breaker from being turned on while the main breaker is on. This ensures the main breaker is off while the generator is connected to the panel which prevents your generator power from getting to the transformer on your pole and sending thousands of volts down a line someone might be working on. Hire a licensed electrician that knows his stuff and you'll be wired up for backup in no time!

Nope, it's a specific TECO thing (Tampa Electric). They only allow it with backup units (like a Generac), not those which can generate power, at present. It looks like this will change by the end of the year though, either policy-wise, or legislation-wise, so holding off till then.

No matter what we go with, I'll be sure to be using a licensed electrician though. I'm decent with electrical, but not gonna mess with that level of it. I can run a line, install fixtures, switches, etc., but I know my limits.

 

[Gazrok]

Feed prices right now is outrageous right now. We are hoping to sell off some of my "big boys", but this is yet to be seen.

A lot of our friends definitely downsized their horse herds. It seemed the local horse economy was just going downhill for the past few years, even before COVID. Of course, the industry revolves around shows, and with COVID, no shows. No shows mean animals you're just feeding for nothing, for many horse people.

 

[Arcticdude]

Our horse boarders were notoriously bad at paying on time, so it made it pretty difficult to keep paying all the bills. If they had paid on time, we likely wouldn't have had an issue. But then, there was just SO much the property needed, just thousands upon thousands to fix (and that we didn't have), so we just didn't see it happening. We're like, just how much do we want to sink into this old place, when we could get a relatively new place without a mortgage? It was kind of a no-brainer after that.

I'm tired of spending thousands of $$ too for building materials, feed and maintenance. Fortunately everything on our place is new, but I'm always building something. Now I'd rather spend my money on a boat and toys.
We had to sell our cattle last year due to medical bills and running out of grass by the end of June. Couldn't afford to feed them for 11 months. This year we have a lot feed and it looks like it could last through October. We have a good sized herd of bred cows up here now, but they belong to someone else. We get $.60 per head per day, plus we got 4 bee hives in trade. Thats a nice little income and all I have to do is maintain the fence, which I have to do anyway. I'm going to buy a brush hog and a sprayer for my tractor. I want to improve about 60 more acres of pasture in hopes of running more cattle, on rent of course. Now that I finally got in to my head that the kids don't want this place, I'm OK with selling and buying a smaller place and banking the rest.

 

[ShadowWolf 13]

Welcome back gazrok glad to have you with us and that all is well