We have spent the last couple of days pulling the final harvest out of the Garden and preserving it. Sweet Potatoes and Peppers. Two of the top 5 Staple crops here. Onions, Potatoes and Tomatoes round out the top 5. Winter Squash, Turnips, Flint Corn, Carrots, and Beets wrap up the top 10. Cayenne Peppers are the most important crop I grow and preserve. Not only for their high Nutritional Value but for their long list of proven health benefits. This final harvest is the biggest harvest of Cayenne Peppers of the growing season. I go three ways with them Dried whole, Ground, and Put in Jars and topped off with white vinegar. They have proven to equally as effective at controlling my Diabetes as the prescription meds. and even more effective than the prescription meds at increasing my blood flow and circulation. The Store Bought Cayenne Ground and crushed Cayenne is nearly worthless. The Ones I grow on the other hand are High Powered and HOT. My diabetes is kind of weird in that it is caused by organ damage from the 2016 SEPSIS, I can EAT Nothing and Drink only water and Coffee for 7 days and my Blood Sugar test at 350-450 on the 8th day without taking the prescription meds or taking the Cayenne. Taking the Prescription meds at the prescribed dosages on the 8th day It test out at 130-150, Taking only the Cayenne it Test out at 120-140. Taking the Cayenne and 1/3rd Dose of the Prescription meds it test out at 80-100 on the 8th day. Pretty much boils down to my Liver and Pancreas don't like each other LOL I make plenty of insulin and it is worthless with my insulin resistance. The Liver in return supercharges my Blood Sugar even without eating. Almost like it creates blood sugar out of thin air LOL. One of the Proven Effects of Cayenne Peppers is improved Liver Function and improved Kidney and Pancreas Function. The increased circulation and blood flow has been a Major Benefit I have not had the numb tingly like the feet asleep after sitting on a leg problem since increasing my Cayenne Pepper consumption by about 4X what it was before. And well there are obviously other benefits that come with a much increased blood flow and circulation I also grow A LOT of Garlic I count it as herb rather than a in the vegetables. Also a super health benefit part of the diet. I didn't grow enough Red and Russet Taters this year just a wheel barrel full of each. On the other hand I only grew like 20X more tomatoes than were needed. Winding down and wrapping up the Garden food production is always Good LOL but in a bout a month I am going to start missing the fresh. But hey the preserved until Next Spring, Fall and Summer is still pretty tasty We are moving on today with collecting the Black Walnuts and the BIG Hickory Nuts. The trees at the base of MountainHill produced a epic crop of nuts this year! I failed hard at making firewood last year for this coming winter. So I am either going to have to buy firewood or Rely on the big propane tank for heat this winter. The Good News is that we have been working the firewood a day per week and have 2 full cords cut, split and stacked drying down for the 2027/2028 Winter. Going to get another 5-6 Cords done over the next couple of weeks. Something I never planned on or wanted in my quest to find a Good and Decent woman was to have a teenager in my life or home LOL. And yes I finally found a good and decent woman that isn't ate up with mental illness, has not once lied to me, tried to manipulate and control me and Hates Creating Problems..... Just to have a problem and DRAMA possibly even more than I hate that BS. I had to give up on these old hags in my own age range Even the healthy ones just want to lounge around complaining about everything and cant begin to keep up with me on their best days. So I started dating much younger women...... Who come with their own sets of malfunctions I just can't accept or have in my life. Finally met a Younger Widow but not too young (50) that is very physically fit, can actually keep up with me in everything and we just mesh together in every way. She did come with a 15 year old daughter. SO I now have a Wife and a Step Daughter that I just call Daughter. Not exactly what I had planned at 58 years old LOL. We all love the Ozarks Rivers, we have spent 2-4 days every week since May on them. Broke down and bought us all a new Kayak tailored to each of us individually My New one is NuCanoe Unlimited with a Newport Vessels NK300HD Electric Outboard on it. LOL it is a pretty big Kayak and I am a pretty big guy LOL. It impressed me on it stress test. THe Motor pushes me along at 7.5 MPH wide open, Cruising at 4mph I have 24 miles of range on one 36V 80AH Battery. The Wife got a Bonafide RVR119 with Newport Vessels NK180HD Motor A much lighter sleeker Kayak and her motor pushes it along top speed of 8.7mph. Daughter had to have a Purple and Pink Crescent Primo with a NK180 Both of theirs are paddle or motor with the RVR119 being a top Contender for nonmotorized arguably the best Paddler, River Fishing Kayak on the market seems to always come down to The RVR119 and the Crescent Shoalie as the top 2. I am going to end up buying a NuCanoe U-Max for myself, I want to start fishing more lakes and doing some of the Tournaments and it being pretty much a bigger version of my Unlimited..... Will just be a lot more stable out on open water with the big boats making big wakes. I am keeping my two Pelican Catch PWR100s Little 9' 9" long 40" wide super stable Go Anywhere Fishing Kayaks. Power them with 100AH Lead Acid Batteries and Newport Vessels 55# Thrust Kayak Series Motors. Our Prime Fishing waters are lower sections of the Castor River and the Diversion Channel. Very Slow moving and deep water in those sections with Lots of Submerged logs, Giant submerged rocks and really tight spots to navigate through. These two little Kayaks are built for those conditions. And the Hull Design lets motors sit 2-3 inched below the Hull. The Newport NV and Kayak Series motors have the same motor and the big difference between them is the Shaft Lengths the NVs have a 30" or 36" Shaft while the Kayak Series have 24" Shafts. Picture is a NV with a 30" shaft. Much better on my modified High Seat than a 24" Shaft. The motors are not the most battery efficient because they are lower geared and a lot more torque than other trolling motors. They power up stream against fast current with ease, where my higher end Minnkota's really struggle to go against fast currents. Out on Calm Water or slow current the higher geared motors are great but even on the lower sections of the Castor River there are some borderline white water stretches that the high geared can barely do and the Old Zalma Mill Dam Remains is 200 yards of really fast class 4 white water that the Kayak Series and NVs go against easily and the high gears just peter out and can't do. I kept the F&S and the Pelican Catch Mode 110 for my paddlers and for guest to use. My Unlimited is a OK paddler but the bigger and heavier a Kayak gets the less agile and effective it is paddling on rivers. The Wife and Daughters RVR119 and Primo are both great paddlers so just leave their motors off and they have top end sit on top fishing and play paddlers. I sold the Two junky Ascends, my 3 Sit ins and have the Brooklyn Tandem at my friends Kayak Shop and him selling for me on Consignment. It is a great Kayak with a 800lb weight capacity very agile as a Tandem or in its Solo Configuration.and got a lot of use over the Spring and Summer. It just doesn't fit into our program going forward and I only have so much Yak Rack Space in the barn Like only space for (8) 10-14 foot yaks. So when I have 14 Kayaks some of them had to go or I had to build another barn LOL. Get asked a lot "Why Don't you just buy a bass boat and a jon Boat?" Neither is idea for the bulk of the rivers we do even with Jet Motors. A lot 3' to 6' deep stretches, big deep holes and then lots of 4-10 inch deep long shallow gravel sections. Also not uncommon to find trees and log jams to portage around. The Kayaks are just the right tools for 85% of our jobs I must have magic soil here. This Cayenne Pepper Plant topped out at 8' 2" Tall and produced a Bushel of peppers by itself over the Summer to last Harvest. None of the Pepper plants were shorter than 5' tall. All of the plants this year just grew HUGE and all were highly productive. I love my flowers in particular the Roses I like a nice looking home and property. 2025 was devoted to moving from the old farm to NewHome in the Ozarks, building, upgrading and improving the infrastructure. 2026 have been Landscaping, build the Rock Raised Gardens and making the place a property and home I am proud to live in, on and enjoy. I visit and see other folks Prepper/Survivalist/Homesteads and most look like a combination Landfill and Junk Yard I just can't live like that! So I put a lot of effort into extracting rocks from the creek and building the landscape and planting the flowers and plants that I like and enjoy. As I extracted the rocks from the little creek I made it deeper and hit a couple more springs increasing its flow from a trickle to a nice little good flowing spring fed stream. I built a half dozen waterfalls and 2-3 feet deep pools behind each waterfall and little sitting and park like areas beside each pool. I built the rock Patio that has became known as the Gravel Bar. The Fire pit in the middle and the ring of chairs around it has became the goto place to rest and relax It doesn't even look like the same place This is the Pic of the Day I closed on it and owned it. Now going into the second winter here and sorting the summer stuff into totes and breaking the winter stuff out of its totes. I am overall happy with the progress I have made here since buying this place May 2025 to November 2026 I over achieved in some areas and fell short in a few...... Like making firewood for this winter LOL. After the switch from summer to winter is done it will look more like this again LOL Can't wait to see if my Bridge rebuild does better than the half ass poorly designed previous owners bridge does. LOL my little Creek turns into a raging river with 5-6 inches of rain running off the big hills surrounding the valley and the previous bridge turns into a dam and eventually washes out. The pair of 16" pipes just couldn't handle that volume of water and once debris clogged them the bridge was done for LOL. I replaced those pipes with 36" Pipes and tripled the amount of big rocks on the sides We have had a real problem the last few weeks with trespassers of a deer hunter nature thinking my Road is a public road and and sight seeing my property. I guess they don't understand what the purple tape and paint mean and can't read the single no trespassing sign I had at the start of my road before the bridge. So 2 days ago I slapped together a post and sign board and moved one of the cameras to right beside the County Road and beside my road. Since putting it up no side by sides, 4 wheelers or trucks have turned on to my road. LOL someone did throw a bunch of beer cans out of their side by side at the base of the sign post....... Emailed a copy of the video of them doing it to the Sheriff, said he knows exactly who they are and will *** Have a talk with them*** Hey I take my privacy and Private Property Rights very seriously! Traditionally I put my first string of Christmas lights up the day after Halloween And add a little more each week up to Thanksgiving and then the day after Thanksgiving put the Tree and last Deco up. I have not done that since becoming widowed. It is good to have returned to that tradition this year. While I never planned or wanted a family at 58, I am happy that things didn't go as I planned and wanted this time I am actually very happy having a real family consisting of myself, a wife and a teen daughter. It was really awkward between me and the daughter at first. Her mom had only ever been with her father and has not even dated anyone since she became a widow. So a Man all of the sudden in her life and her Mom in love and happy with someone other than her father has been awkward in itself. Then she really likes me but then feels guilty about starting to look at me as a a father figure and feels like she is betraying the memory of her Father. She works with me a lot and we have long often uncomfortable talks while working together. What she see's are her friends divorced mothers with men of questionable character that come and go and have zero interest in her friends, just the mother until she moves on to the next guy. So she asked me "Why do you treat me so well and like I am your real daughter???" Simple because I love her and see her as my own daughter, which when me and Kristi Married she became my Daughter and Responsibility and it does not matter to me if I am her biological Father or Not. Her Mother is a very proud and independent woman that when he husband died lost everything. He was a good guy but loved using credit and debt and was not even a little bit good with finances or financial planning for the future... So they have had a really hard time getting by and have been pretty crisis and survival mode for the last 6 years. It took a minor miracle for Kristi to let me help her out when she just didn't have enough money to pay all of the bills. Tough Lady that is as I WILL MAKE IT ON MY OWN!!! as I am LOL. And she was always worried at first that my help would have strings attached to it. So she would let the phone, internet and electric get shut off before she would accept help. That both impressed and annoyed me LOL. She only lived 10 Miles North of me yeah all of the thousands of dating miles I put on that new camry in my quest to find the woman I wanted and she was just a 15 minute drive away for the last 16 Months. Anyway I have finally found what I was looking for even if it wasn't what I thought I was looking for. Have Wife and Daughter now, settled down and retired from the endless and pointless dating and am getting the Cabin and Property set up the way WE want it. And convincing the interlopers to not turn onto Our Road or cross Our Bridge. Nothing on this side of the bridge that anyone outside of who I want to share it with needs to be privy to LOL and this week her Oldest Daughter (21) is visiting from her life and work at Yellowstone. So I finally got to meet her and LOL be judged by her. Sitting on the porch last night that this is the first time since her dad died that she has seen her Mom and Sister Comfortable, Relaxed and Happy. I guess her ultimate goal is to return to Missouri and work in the Mark Twain National Parks. So will only see her once or maybe twice per year until then. My judgment of her........ LOL A carbon Copy of her Mom and just as independent and hard headed. We offered to buy her plane ticket to come and she was like ummmm NO I can get my own plane ticket!!!.
