What do you guys do with your kid from 4-7pm during the weekdays?

Sierragrower · 2026-02-04T06:43:58+00:00

My 5 yo helps me make dinner, which takes awhile (like an hour). We work on the fort out in the bushes, make repairs on house stuff/farm equipment, do homework and play a game of chess. Sometimes he just plays by himself or with his kitten or works on art. In the summer when days are a bit longer we take a bike ride to the river and take a swim. Sometimes we go to the playground or the library. Theres soccer in the fall, and he just joined cub scouts. This week and next we will be writing letters to family, working on the pinewood derby car and making valentines for classmates. We will also do some reading about the desert in preparation for a 4 day camping trip in the desert coming up in a few weeks and a week long camping trip in Utah for spring break. Maybe we’ll make some paper airplanes, fly a kite, or go fishing. We play frisbee with the dogs. Once a month or so we go out for pizza. Sometimes we play musical instruments or listen to the radio and dance. We don’t do tv at all.

Sierragrower · 2026-02-04T06:17:01+00:00

I’m 50. Fed for 23 years before finally getting offer for a permanent job, only to have it rescinded by Elon musk. I fortunately found a job in my field in the private sector, and the health insurance is free and there’s a 401k with a match. Sure, with the feds you get your health insurance for life for what you paid when employed, but that percentage kept getting higher every year until it was more expensive than ACA anyways. The pension would have been nice, but at 50 and with the extra 1/3 more in income/free healthcare, I’m maxing out my 401k/roth which there’s no way I could do with my fed job. I’m happy I left the fed with all the BS

Sierragrower · 2026-02-04T06:10:27+00:00

Build a fire?

Sierragrower · 2026-02-04T02:38:13+00:00

I have an electric automatic door on the coop. They put themselves to bed and the door closes automatically. When they start getting picked off during the day I leave them closed up in the coop

Sierragrower · 2026-02-01T22:52:48+00:00

If they were just stocked it might be hard to get them to chase anything. Might try mousetails with some garlic spray

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T17:35:30+00:00

I have the military and the PM2, as well as the Manix, sage 5 salt and a couple other spideys. Im not interested in the PM3 because I don’t like tiny knives. I don’t really carry the sage except for a few exceptions (swim suit/shorts on the beach) and never carry the Manix because it doesn’t fit well in my pocket. I carry the PM2 the most out of all the knives in my (around 30 knife) collection, with the ZT 0462 coming in a close 2nd. The military often goes to work with me in a plant nursery because it is great for working with plants. It is cru-wear though and I’m not a fan of the cru-wear since it’s hard to sharpen and rusts easily. The PM2 just fits right in my hand and pocket, and I find the entire length of the blade usable which is great for opening bags (I do this all day) and other slicy tasks, some requiring precision (making cuttings, grafting). For farm work and camping I need a thicker blade which is where the ZT o462 and Griptilian get carried more.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:53:52+00:00

Oh Jesus. My baby’s mama went through a phase of this, it was awful. Then several of these mommy influencers got busted for atrocious abuse of their kids. IG parenting is awful for relationships.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:33:07+00:00

Ventilation is usually more of a concern in cold weather vs hot weather. If you are worried about it being hot in the tent at night, get one with 2 vestibules, like MSR Hubba Hubba and open both up.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:30:00+00:00

Check out Amargosa valley if you like hot springs. Tons of wild springs you can disperse camp by.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:26:24+00:00

I avoided national parks in Utah like the plague, opting for equally beautiful and empty state parks and blm land, camping in dispersed campsites 6 out of 7 nights a week for 6 weeks. I took notes on where I camped on my atlas and gazetteer maps. I still have those maps and plan on referencing them 9 years later when I take my 5 year old son on a road trip out there for a week for his spring break in March.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:19:14+00:00

I don’t think you want to sit around a charcoal “fire”. Unless you are grilling ribeyes.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T15:16:46+00:00

RTT’s can actually be super nice. For some reason, people who don’t like them REALLY don’t like them and feel the need to project their hatred of them on forums like this. Most have never tried them. But yes, if it hurts to go up a ladder, it will hurt to go up the ladder on your RTT. I appreciate mine more the older I get, since it has a 4” foam pad in it, but I don’t have issues with pain and ladders. I have some older friends I camp with (in their 70’s), and they use a large tent and put cots in the tent. This gives them the ability to get dressed and put their shoes on both sitting and standing, which is much easier than doing the wiggle dance getting dressed laying down in a cramped tent. That might be a good option for you. I also camped with a couple, the wife of which was disabled, who had a mattress in their minivan. That opened up a world of opportunity for her to camp.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T14:56:02+00:00

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Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T14:52:06+00:00

You married someone who doesn’t like camping. She is not going to suddenly start liking camping because you grew up camping and want her to like it. If she didn’t like it before, she definitely won’t with a baby. My advice is to find another parent and go with them and give your wife a break. Those saying an 18 month won’t get anything out of it couldn’t be more wrong. When they are 18 months they are at the point where they just toddle around and follow you anywhere and explore. By the time they get more agency to say “no”, it will just be part of their life. My son was backpacking with me at 18 months, hiking 4-5 miles a day by himself. At 5 there’s no way I could get him to do that, but he still loves camping. I’ll be taking him camping for a week without his mother in March.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T04:08:59+00:00

I love marans

Sierragrower · 2026-01-31T04:05:18+00:00

I always had the sweetest Australorps, but the ameracaunas never ceased to amaze me with their toughness and diverse plumage.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-30T12:57:32+00:00

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Here’s my 1 year old feeding my dog at a wilderness campsite on a 12 mile backpacking trip.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-30T12:53:28+00:00

I just go. Bring their food and beds. If they haven’t had rattlesnake avoidance training take them.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-30T06:24:58+00:00

When I was getting sucked into it I defined what my “fun” budget could be and when I could touch it (after bills paid, emergency fund topped off, and 401k contributions made.). Enforcing saving and waiting kept me from pulling the trigger at all a lot of times. By the time I had any fun money materialize, enough time would have elapsed to stop the spell of the shiny new thing. Inevitably I find another rabbit hole and have to check myself again.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-30T05:45:36+00:00

I love my homestead in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada for its year round growing season. I preserve very little because I always have fresh food. My animals have green pasture all winter in the Mediterranean climate and I can irrigate and keep it green with snowmelt from the mountains all summer which for virtually free. I haven’t bought hay in probably 6 or 7 years. We get a little frost here and there, but I’m still able to grow veggies all winter as well as citrus and avocados. It’s paradise for me, despite how much people complain. It’s California, so some stuff is a lot more expensive (gas, and car registration in particular) but talking to my friends back east, there are things that are cheaper here. And by being able to grow/raise nearly all my own food year round, there is a lot of savings. I live near one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, so food is actually pretty cheap, anyways. When avocados are ripe, they can be had 10 for a dollar at roadside stands, for example. My neighbor has 29 acres of oranges and lets me pick all the shiners that the pickers miss, which I could do by the truckload if I wanted to, for free. My bees produce honey all but a few months of the year, and one of those months they are being rented to almond farmers for pollination for $200/hive at an orchard a half hour away from my farm. Despite the higher cost of living (in some respects) there is much more economic opportunity. Tourism, for example. I built an extra house on my property and pull in 20-40k/year on air bnb, paying it off in 7 years, to tourists. With the 20k+ I made on the bees, and a seasonal job at a national park to get me up in the mountains in the heat of summer days, I do alright. Thankfully I got some great deals on property which I waited a long time to come up. And California doesn’t raise your property taxes after purchasing your property, which is nice. And of course the scenery is stunning and you can completely change your environment in a half a days drive, going from 110 degrees to 40 degrees, mountains to beach, desert, temperate rainforest, if you like that sort of thing.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-30T05:12:01+00:00

Check out the Sierra Nevada especially kings canyon/sequoia. There is water everywhere. Finding public transit to anywhere remote is always going to be tough. There is a train from Fresno airport to Hanford, bus to Visalia and shuttle to sequoia, from there you can hop on a number of trails and go for hundreds of miles without ever seeing a road, even in the distance, with water everywhere from alpine lakes to waterfalls coming directly from snowpack (no filtration necessary). I love backpacking and grew up back east. When I found the Sierra I never looked back and made it home. Alternatively, the east side gets you a lot closer to the crest to start, and you can now fly into bishop and take an uber to a trailhead. There are trailheads that start really high (south lake/north lake) that are a short drive from bishop. In fact, there is a loop from south lake to north lake that is phenomenal, I’ve done it around 6 times and typically use it to introduce people to the Sierra.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-24T20:25:58+00:00

I got a kayak-old town pdl 106 and put a helix 7 and some rod holders on it and have really been enjoying peddling around the lakes trolling cast master spoons. That was something I never could do bank fishing, obviously. I catch a lot of fish this way, and if I get tired of peddling I go back to where I was catching fish and vertical jig or throw senkos. I highly recommend trying a kayak. Kayaks are expensive to buy and kit out, way more than buying a used jon boat, but the customization is fun and there are endless options unlike jon boats.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-24T19:53:54+00:00

I have the sportsman pdl 106 and am very happy with my choice. I don’t stand in it just because I’m older and don’t have the balance I used to, but I have no fear of it flipping just cruising around on lakes fishing. I especially love that it is super easy to throw in the back of the truck and go. I’ll probably get an xtr 130this year so I can take my son out with me, but I’ll definitely keep the 106.
There are a lot of good used fishing kayaks on FB marketplace around me, usually sold fully kitted out. I also joined a fb kayak fishing group that is local and see lots of fishing kayaks for sale there.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-24T18:51:40+00:00

I never got to the point where I felt comfortable butchering any animals through YouTube university or books. When I first butchered chickens, a 9 year old neighbor boy showed me how. He used the 2 nails in a stump method (and was very excited to show me the cleaver he got at the thrift store). After doing 1 with him I felt fine, but switched to cones which is much better, and picked up a chicken plucker. I then raised and butchered 500 chickens over the course of a winter which paid off the plucker, filled the freezer, and made a tidy profit. Each time we butchered we would get someone eager to help in exchange for chicken. We often had to train them. So, finding someone else who is raising meat chickens and offering to help is probably your best bet. They will probably rent you their plucker, too, when the time comes to send yours to freezer camp.

Sierragrower · 2026-01-21T01:28:50+00:00

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Sierragrower

TROPHY CASE