u/GMAN7007

Hey everyone Griff and the Girls here.

Had to get the wood stove in fixed today because this coming week is going to start getting pretty cold at a night. It's not setup yet but will be in the next day or so. Just waiting on some firewood and for the actual temperature to drop. Really hoping the dogs don't get too close to it. They've always been pretty good around campfires. Going to be going into town this week at some point to get to the food bank and do a water run.

I wanted to make another video today, it's just too windy to do so, it's impossible to hear me talking. Everything is holding up nicely!

I was hoping if anyone has any suggestions on what they would like to see or a video on, let me know. I'm a pretty open book too if anyone has anymore questions.

Video of the first fire coming soon!

-Griff and the Girls-

Hey everyone, I wanted to share a video of the girls I took today. It got cut off at the end, girls still had some fun play fetch. Many more videos to come. Just getting my bearings with the editing software.

More videos and content to come!

-Griff and the Girls-

Hey everyone hope you're all having a great day.

Looks like tent tour video is going to be a few more days. My neighbor isn't available until Monday so I have some time to keep doing some planning. It's been raining and raining so much almost nonstop. I am pretty happy with myself I bought some caulk after the eye appointment to seal up above the bed in the camper just in case. So far so good no leaks over the bed.

The eye drops also seem to be doing wonders. I at this time no longer see the visual artifacts nearly as well as I did before. Maybe 70% decrease. I also slept better than usual, this happened last time I got on my glaucoma drops because the pressure is down in my eyes. The doctor said I had gotten so accustomed to the eye pressure I had stopped noticing it.

I wanted to add a meal I had yesterday.

I used a can of shredded beef. I mixed the meat and contents of the can with some water. I added some beef seasoning from ramen and some powered milk. I let that cook down for a little bit. Then I added the ramen, I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. It was fantastic, I was shocked. It tasked just like beef stroganoff. I just wish I had a little sour cream to go with it. I'll post some pictures to go with the post.

Sorry again about the rain I wish I could get everything set up this week. If something changes I'll get it all set up and make a post.

Have a great evening everyone!

-Griff and the Girls-

Hey all! Yesterday we had torrential rains while we were in town. Lots more today, so much rain the roads into the prairie have been washed away.

I took a couple pics I didn't get a shot of the washed away part. It can be driven through but with a 4x4. Something that can drive off road. I highly doubt UPS and FedEx would be able to make it to this side of the prairie. The grader crews who maintain the roads are going to have to do a lot of work to get the road back into shape. It's possible to get here via San Luis but I don't think they come that way. Just thankful we have shelter until then.

Hey everyone, Griff and the Girls here. I wanted to thank everyone again from the bottom of our hearts and paws for helping us. I have enough now to get the Tent and the wood stove. I am just looking through a few reviews of the tent I am looking at and another one that's the same price.

It means everything to Us that you did so much to help us. I am looking forward to getting everything ordered and making a whole series about it. I want to make some youtube videos to share with the community.

I was going to take the fundraiser down but was told by a couple of donors to keep it up. Any other donations will be used strictly for supplies of things we need. I will also let everyone know of what was ordered when I get the orders out.

Thank you all again so much. It means the world to us to have you in our corner. Ollie in the picture is enjoying one of the toys that was sent to the girls.

Tent/Supplies fundraiser.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank everyone for the moral support and the donations. I am in tears writing this because I had gotten so worried about the winter. I didn't want the girls to be cold and disappointed with me. Just today we're about 1/4 of the way from getting the Tent and wood stove. I can't thank everyone enough. We're so thankful for everyone.

With how the camper is and how cold the winter might be you could be saving out lives and I'll never be able to thank you enough.

Adding a picture of Ollie consoling her Mom during the big storm today. Riley is not a fan of thunder.

I tried to make it so you would be able to see the donations on the Tent fundraiser to be fully transparent so everyone know where the donations are going.

Edit: I think we're almost to the goal. I can't get the page to pull up right this second I think the app is having issues this morning. Thank you again everyone so much.

Tent Fundraiser

I didn't have enough water for the macaroni so I used the Kraft Deluxe cheese sauce in my ramen.

It wasn't terrible it reminded me of those quick noodle boxes you can get at the store.

If you're interested in our live being stranded out on a prairie, I have a sub you might be interested in.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OffGridGriff/

If this isn't allowed let me know mods and I'll remove it immediately.

Hey everyone, Griff here. You may have caught my post yesterday about our current living conditions I'll post a link from yesterday.

Living conditions post from yesterday.

I have had a few people over the last couple weeks warn me it's going to be too cold to stay out here this winter in the camper. I mentioned we were out here in the Winter last year but everyone is telling me that was a very mild winter and it usually gets down to the -20s without a wood stove which the camper probably can't fit safely with the location so close to the canvas.

The plan was to board over the canvas area in the camper. The issue is I don't think we're going to have enough to do so. There is also a doctor in the sub that's concerned about all of the rodent droppings and the possibility of hanta virus. The girls and I could get sick potentially especially with the breathable area being covered in wood. The camper gets a lot of mice at night. I'm constantly cleaning it up in the morning.

The other option I was looking into was staying at the old Farmhouse. All the info is in the link, here's a little bit of it. The Farmhouse is packed with rodent and bird poop. The door has fallen off and the roof and the floor have holes and are leaking. It's also now owned by the county, it's a risk staying there.

Like I mentioned in the post from yesterday someone made a post about crowdfunding some shelter. I was initially not sure if it would work because you can't crowdfund on Amazon. Turns out you can crowdfund on Amazon. It's crowdfunding but it uses Amazon store credit.

I have said this a couple times in the past I hate asking for help it makes me embarrassed and feel like I'm a failure. I know I'm not it just makes me feel bad. I just can't not try for the sake of the girls and myself. I never expect anyone to donate anything. Please remember just you being here with moral support means the world to all of us. I even read out all of the sweet things everyone says to the girls with lots of pets and treats. You all mean the world to us. The amount that's on there is just the default I don't expect that much in anyway. It's just the default. I just really want to get the girls and I into a clean living situation. When we initially were in a tent it was so easy to keep clean.

I'm going to put the tent i'm looking at in the original wishlist if you want to see what I'm thinking.

Tent and wood stove/ winter fund

Wishlist for items.

Update on the farmhouse. 

Hey everyone I am posting an update on the farmhouse that I posted about last month. With the concern from some neighbors and some users on here about staying in the camper for the winter. Last year wasn’t a problem but it’s supposed to be a rough winter because of super el nino. I have been told the winter out here can get down to -30. Last year it got down to -13, we did okay but it was cold. The canvas will get frosty but the heater kept up. I am a little more concerned now than I was. So I’ve been looking for alternatives as a possibility. 

Here are the options.

The Farmhouse

Pros:

Probably warmer than the camper.

A little closer to the river.

Feels like more of a safe structure.

Cons:

Door needs to be replaced, it was one one hinge last time I was there. Yesterday it was on the ground crushed. It’s one of those doors with wood on the outside but cardboard like stuff on the inside. A replacement could possibly be sourced

There is so much rodent and bird poop inside it’s hard to see the floor. This could be cleaned up I wore a mask going into it.

The floor is giving away in a couple spots. There is a water heater inside which is bizarre because it has a date of 2008 on it but there’s no electricity or running water there.The floor is rotted there all the way through. Decades ago they had a well for the farm but it’s not connected to the house. There is a random plug coming from the ground and a random plug coming from the back of the house. Possibly an old pump is under ground but I can’t find any evidence other than the cord for that. The cord from the back of the house is also random I can’t trace where it goes to inside the house. It’s not the water heater that’s in another area. I’ll post pics of these too.

The roof in the front and back left side have torn up “I’ll include pictures” The ceiling under those spots is caving in. A tarp would stop leaking but won’t hold in any heat I would think because heat rises. 

No windows, It has window holes that were boarded up at one point but no actual windows. The biggest thing is I don’t get almost any cell service there. I was going to post some pictures while I was there, no service. This is a common thing out here, It’s why the camper is where it is. 

Something that worries me is. The door had a padlock on it but the lock part was ripped off.

This may have been there last time and I missed it. I also found a picture that mentions a flag ceremony in 2005. That at least confirms someone has been there since 2008 when the water heater was dated.

I wanted to look into the property to see if it was owned by anyone or for sale or maybe up for auction. The GIS “Geographic Information System” for our country shows the owners of every property that’s been assessed. The system said that the property was purchased in 2023 by the county. I initially thought it was foreclosed on or something like that. I called the county assessor today and they said that parcel was purchased by the county but he didn’t have any information why or for what. It’s not for sale and someone is paying the property taxes. It could be a gamble, they might never do anything with the land it’s not in a very accessible area. They also already have an area by the river for public work. 

I had to go around and find something with service. I had starlink last year but had to get rid of it because it was more than I could afford. 

The Farmhouse is going to need this work done to be possible.

Door needs to be replaced.

Floor, wall and ceilings need to be cleaned. “Lots of mold on the walls” Pics included

Particle board or something similar would need to be used to cover holes.

Roof will need tarp and something to block the holes. Only 2 as far as I can see.

The next option is staying in the camper. This was the plan up until this last week when people started warning me about how bad the winter could be. 

What I will need to do to get the camper ready for the winter.

I need to fix the canvas, The zippers on 3 sides have fallen apart. One side I think I can get closed. Wood will need to be put alone the whole outside where the top area of th canvas is. I’ll post some pictures of what I’m talking about. 

 

I have some lumber that I can use to cover some of the sides my neighbor is going to look for some cheap lumber I might be able to use for the rest. I need to find a way to get a wood stove at some point so I don’t need to just depend on propane. Sometimes the roads are so bad we can’t get into town. It’s about 20 miles of dirt roads before we get to paved roads. The county will plow out here if they can get out here. Having wood as an option would be very helpful and it would be nice having the heater on all night. I usually have to turn the propane heater off at night so I don’t use too much. Fireawood is readily available out here for very cheap.

I need to fix the roof in the camper and use silicone sealant to water tight the roof. The roof itself is in 2 pieces connected by some sort of material access the seam the connects the 2 sides. That leaks a lot. The inside of the ceiling has some mold but I can’t see how much. As far as I can tell it’s just styrofoam in there.

One big issue with the camper is the door broke this last week. The bottom rotted out which helped keep the shape of the door. Not it will close but the bottom doesn’t seal. My neighbor and I tried putting wood back in but the metal sheeting is starting to peel off now. We’re keeping an eye out for a replacement.

The next option is a 4 season tent with a wood stove. With a wood stove the tent would stay very warm even when it’s very cold out. We could be cozy all the time. The problem now is we have times of the day I turn the heater off because it’s not too cold but it can be uncomfortable. The tent is nice because I can move if I had to quickly. Someone had made a post about crowdfunding me for a shed but I just don’t think I can put something like that out here. But a tent would be possible. I would also be nice to not have any mice in here constantly. I have to keep all food double bagged because they’ll get into everything. I had a lot of ramen that I had to toss because they got into it at night. It’s because the camper doesn’t fully seal. I have tried filling everything with expanding foam they still make their way in.

One other big issue is it’s not easy for me to talk about because it makes be sad. Riley has some trouble getting into the camper. She’s afraid to jump into the camper sometimes. I don’t know if it’s hard on her joints she doesn’t seem to have issues otherwise. I just think it’s hard she has to jump from the ground to inside the camper onto the table then onto the bed. I worry about them getting hurt. 

When we initially got out here we were in a tent, the mice weren't able to get into it. I have been trying to sell what I can on marketplace to come up with some tent money or repair money. I know they mentioned crowdfunding in the post I just want to try and make some money myself. I have a couple things I might be able to sell. I won’t turn away any help with it, I just want to try and do some too. I don’t know how crowdfunding would work I can’t sign up for any without a valid license. Maybe over venmo would work. I don’t know how I would do it on Amazon. 

If anyone has any interest or suggestions let me know. I’m going to need to start getting the ground ready before it freezes.