Little bit of this, little bit of that

Some days, most days, life is full of little moments. You do a bit of this and then a bit of that, and before you know it, the morning has slid into the afternoon. My life is really like that. 

A few days ago the morning was full of little things. I made a cup of coffee and sat down to go through the canning books to select a few soup recipes to make for this winter. I had a batch of yogurt in the Instant Pot that needed to be finished, and a pack of bacon to fry. In the garden, I wanted to make a last harvest of the basil and get it on the dehydrator. And I needed to vacuum the rug because Deuce - well, Deuce was being Deuce. 

I took video clips of the morning, which is more time consuming than you'd think. I spent the afternoon putting the clips together and getting the video posted.

When I was finished, evening had arrived and another day was gone. And isn't that just life? A little bit of this and a little bit of that which forms to make a whole day. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, canning, Instant Pot, bacon, basil herbs, gardening, rural living, YouTube, video, daily life, black Labrador Retriever

How busy is too busy?

 

To say that's it's been a busy stretch would be an understatement. It's that time of year when you look around and see a few things that need done before the really cold weather creeps up on you. So I got busy, did the work, and I videoed a lot of it. 

There was cleaning up the wood yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOMDflULKhs&t=8s 

I harvested the basil and made pesto. It's not really a cooking vid, just the way I do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k922IppD3FE&t=17s

One day, I took some time to do the little bit of fall decorating I do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC2V-dpXLVU

But the really BIG THING that happened was the tree trimmers finally arrived to take down the mostly dead oak tree. I've been sorting and organizing the logs so that when the wood dries out enough to split, it will be an easier job. That video isn't out yet, but it's coming soon. 

On top of all that at the home front, I've been out to dinner with friends, dined with family, and enjoyed the weekly Trivia Nite at a local "tavern" with a cousin. The game takes place in the ballroom so you know it's not a real tavern. I canned a batch of green peppers, chicken breast, and white bean and sausage soup.

This week, I put on my author hat and started to add my backlist to Audible. You can read about that over at Between the Keys. If you already have some of my titles, you can add the audiobook for $1.99. It's going to cost me a small fortune to get the audiobooks into my personal library, but it'll be worth it. 

It seems like I have something to do every day, and by the end of the day, I'm bushed. Heck, I went to bed with the chickens last night and slept for nine hours! 

In reality, I think it's good to be busy. Having nothing to do would make life pretty boring. Those days are just around the corner. Winter will arrive and my days will shrink to the computer, the TV, and the woodstove. 

Until then, I'll count my busy blessings.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, YouTube, autumn, gardening, woodstove, firewood, tree trimming, cooking, basil, Black Labrador Retriever, family, trivia, winter, audio books

Quick Garden Tour, Cleanup, and a New Greenstalk

The 2025 gardening season is winding down. Was it a huge success? Not really. The extreme heat took a toll on a lot of things, but the Bell peppers thrived. The Roma tomatoes did okay, too, even flowering after ninety-degree days. I even avoided the blossom end rot this year. 

I've harvested basil to make and freeze Pesto, canned tomatoes, and made two batches of stevia. I've dehydrated lemon balm and echinacea, and even dried some patchouli. And I've added another Greenstalk for strawberries. 

Along the way this summer, I've been making videos! I love having a video record of what's been going on here at Holly Tree Manor. 

So check out my YouTube channel, Holly Tree Manor with KC Kendricks to SEE what's been going on. And if you would, please like and subscribe to help the channel grow. I want to be an old, old woman with a bunch of videos to prove to old, old men that yes, I did indeed know how to operate a John Deere tractor. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Holly Tree Manor, KC Kendricks, YouTube, gardening, John Deere 1023, Greenstalk, container gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, woven weed cloth

Tree topping in Triple H weather - not advised

I've been a bit MIA lately, and that's because I've been working with the cousin in Triple H weather. That's hazy, hot, and humid in case you don't live in the Mid-Atlantic region and don't know. I can only work for a couple of hours at a time when I'm on my own. If I get heat stroke, I'll lie there and be dead before someone misses me. We don't want that to happen! 

My property is a three-acre lot and two of those acres are wooded. That's fine. I like trees. The only thing that beats shade in the summer is central air in the house. But I digress...

Back in 1981 the trees were not this big. They grew, and some of them became uncomfortable neighbors. Cousin Dave and I rented a "cherry picker" lift and topped out six of them. I'm in the midst of cleaning up the brush so we can cut firewood rounds. It's going to take many, many, many days to get it all finished, but in the end, our firewood rounds stockpile will be in good shape. 

Deuce has a bit to say about the lift we rented. He was not impressed. https://deucesday.blogspot.com/2025/07/whats-this-thing.html

Years ago, I began to post short videos so my husband could see what was happening around the manor in places he could no longer physically get to. There were also dog vids, and vids of walks and such, all posted in the hope he'd feel included. 

After he passed, I pondered whether or not to start a more intense video project, and to that end I've been recording my activities on the manor. My YouTube channel is called The Hideaway Between the Keys, and as with all things, Google knows where to find me. I think YouTube has changed up some things and it's now youtube.com/@KCKendricks. I think. I'm still figuring a lot of "stuff" out. 

I'll have upcoming videos of the tree trimming and cleanup, as well as some general gardening and general manor activity vids. It really is my life unscripted. 

But back to the Triple H weather, I'm pretty much done for the day with outside work. I grabbed the chainsaw around 7:15 AM and worked clearing the brush from the top of one of the downed maples until the sunshine stole the shade from me. I'll go at it again tomorrow morning. Once I have the smaller, lighter brush removed, the cousin will return with his big saw and finish the heavier work. Sooner of later, it'll all get done and I'm fine with that. My plan is to get to the end goal without giving myself a heat stroke. 

Good plan!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, YouTube, country lifestyle, rural living, tree trimming, firewood, weather, heat stroke, Milwaukee chainsaw, John Deere 1023

EMP - real threat or YouTubers feeding frenzy?

EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse. The source of an EMP can be natural or artificial and can occur as an electromagnetic field, an electric field, a magnetic field, or a conducted electric current. Lightning is a type of EMP. Our sun can cause EMPs. An EMP can be created to deliberately to incapacitate societies. An EMP can have a nuclear source. 

Scary thought, isn't it? 

For the last year or so, I've enjoyed watching some of the homesteading channels on YouTube. These days, some of the better ones seem to have gone over to the dark side. 

Taking that trip is pretty easy. We have an idiot for a president, our economy is flailing and failing, our supply chain isn't recovering from the lockdown days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and our Congress is more worried about the upcoming elections than upholding the Constitution and doing the job they're being paid to do. Yep. Everywhere you look there is chaos. 

Our sun has cycles, and we're in what is called a Grand Solar Minimum. A Grand Solar Minimum occurs approximately every 200 years. A normal solar minimum is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle. Apparently, the sun is in a period of reduced solar activity when it comes to things like solar flares. 

So what's really going on? I don't know. I'm not a scientist. 

I am confused, though. If we're having a solar minimum, why is it hotter? Why are some people saying the sun's radiation has increased?  I've lived long enough to know that yes, our weather has cycles. I remember that around 1992-93, the summer was really hot. I remember because of where I was working and how one of my co-workers would not shut up about how miserable he was in the heat. Would. Not. Shut. Up. 

The bottom line is that very few of us have the power to do anything about the sun. Other than voting wisely, we can't control our own government. We can't control the actions of other governments. So what should we do?

For me and mine, we are living our lives, day by day, as planned. Some of us are building our pantries, but that's not about preparing for the end of the world. It's so much easier to prepare meals if you have what you need in the pantry, and it's a lot more economical to eat today at yesterday's prices. Having a well-stocked pantry reduces stress, too. Some of us simply don't like to go shopping every day. And then there are the supply chain issues that continue to plague everyone. I'd hate to have to make pancake batter from scratch. 

I really believe that some of all the doom and gloom on YouTube is to get more views. More views equate to more money and a sensational thumbnail snags the attention. Content that plays to fear keeps people coming back. Does it suck you in?

We're doing our best not to get sucked into a dystopian view. But if some day the grid goes down and even our generator is fried, we'll at least know what happened. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, EMP, YouTube, preparedness, end of days, power outages, dystopian world view, country living, rural lifestyle, pantry, preppers, solar minimum, 

What's next? Do I have a plan for 2022?

stock photo

This time of the year just about everywhere one goes on the web you can find a recap of the year just past and "resolutions" for the year so recently begun. 

I typed that sentence and sighed. Surely that means something. 

I'm not in a good place about the year just past. I turned in my letter of resignation and then allowed myself to be talked into staying on with several concessions. It's my own fault. Now I'm dealing with an unhealthy attitude about what has been a rather good job, one with an excellent pension plan and health plan. Nevertheless, my official contract expired on December 31, 2021, and hell will freeze over before I sign a new partial year contract. In fact, with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 wreaking havoc in my community, I may be exercising a few of those concessions starting Tuesday. 

Now is the time to consider the plan for 2022. 

IS there a plan?

There is a plan. I will be eligible for Medicare and that is the only remaining hurdle to jump to retire. The cost of health insurance was the determining factor for continuing to work. Retirement will happen.

I have seeds purchased and have the calendar posted as to when I need to plant them according to variety. The garden corral worked great last summer and I learned a great deal. 

The spousal unit is researching small vans to serve the dual purposes of transportation for him and the ability for us to do some overnight trips, stealth camping if necessary. I hope to record some videos of our "adventures" and post them on YouTube. 

My three-tiered pantry is up and running. The last item to cross off the list was the purchase of a HarvestRight freeze-dryer. Once retired, I'll have the time to do some serious meal preservation. We'll eat well on our sojourns in the van.  

I've been a published author for twenty years and I will continue to write. At what level I'm not sure. My focus has been on prepping for retirement and the future. Once I'm settled in, I hope the joy of writing returns. The hot summer afternoons will be the best time to hole up in my office and compose prose. 

And then there are those individuals I want to reconnect with. Working for a living pulled us in different directions. I take some of the responsibility for not calling them, but the phone works both ways. I plan to reach out and see what happens. 

Those are my plans not only for 2022, but for a few years to come. I realize I have a big life change ahead and I'll give myself a little wiggle room on how fast I hop on the phone or on my computer. I think the first thing I need to do is RELAX. I'll have to learn how to do that because I'm not sure it's a skill I possess. 

So there it is in black and white. I've written it out for the world to see. There's no going back on it. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)