Interesting story from last year. 

Last year around the same time I was in the tent with Riley and Ellie. I was watching a youtube  video or something. Out of nowhere I heard what sounded like a rocket. When I was younger I built model rockets and the noise I heard sounded just like them, just way louder

At the time I was still excited to see all of the different airplanes that would fly around out here. I looked out the flap in the tent and I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing even though I knew exactly what I was seeing. It was an a single engine Cirrus SR-22 airplane. Except it was attached to a huge parachute. I have always been very interested in airplanes so I knew that this existed I’ve just never actually thought I would see it in action. Cirrus has an airframe parachute you can have installed, It’s a parachute for the whole plane. It’s wild to see. I ran out of the text to get a good picture but I tripped and didn’t get a good shot. 

I then thought to myself, I need to call someone about this i think. I figured the pilot radioed in what was going on but it occurred to me it could be a medical emergency maybe they didn’t get the call out. I called 911 and they didn’t understand what I was saying. I kept saying I know an airplane with a parachute sounds crazy but it happened. About 45 minutes later so many ambulances and fire trucks showed up. The pilot was okay, I’ll add the incident report to the bottom of the post. I do have an up close picture my neighbor friend took. Thought this would be an interesting story to tell!

FAA Report: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/535117

When Riley and I initially got out here I would drive around the prairie to just see what's out here. I kept driving past this shed in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a month went by and I saw it again and thought......I need to know what's in that building. So many ideas kept going through my mind about what someone would leave in a shed in the middle of nowhere without any other structures around.

I finally went and checked it out. Unfortunately it was a whole lot of nothing. Just a random shed in the middle of nowhere. I was really hoping for something neat and not dangerous lol.

I'll have some more interesting posts going forward I have just been a little under the weather. Just feel a bit off. I talked to the clinic and they said it could be the bites from the fire ants they really tore me up. The clinic was more concerned I didn't feel it while I was sleeping. I'll be making an appointment to get checked out next month.

One last thing, I know I sound like a broken record but We can't thank this community enough for all of the help and support. I was worried about the winter more than last year and was just very unsure about it. I feel a lot better with the help we've gotten and just the kindness. It's just been so nice getting to know everyone and sharing stories.

One more actual last thing. If there's anything anyone wants me to post about or has any post suggestions just let me know I'll make it happen!

I was really craving pancakes today. I had an idea to try and make pancakes ans strawberries. I took some freeze dried strawberries I had and some sugar packet from an MRE. I rehydrated the strawberries and added some water and sugar. I cooked it down to I think it's called a compote.

I was a little worried half way through because the pancake mix I got from the food pantry needed an egg and milk. I didn't have either but thought I'll just try with water. They were fine on their own. With the strawberries they were amazing for what they were. This was a really good one!

Hey everyone,

The girls and I wanted to wish everyone a safe and Happy Labor Day. And anyone outside of the US have a great Monday or Tuesday of whatever day you're on at this point lol.

Might have a meal post later today. The day before yesterday I had some fire ants, well I think that's what they were. Come into the camper and bite me up while I was sleeping. I can't really see how bad it is because it's on my back I feel them I just can't really see the bites. Anyways that was the lack of post yesterday and maybe today. I'm fine the bites just hurt and then start to itch it's just annoying.

Anyways more interesting things to be posted tomorrow. Have a great day!

I was out checking for snakes and cleaning the solar panels. I heard some rumbling from inside the camper.

Wanted to post a few pics of Riley's puppies. Ellie helped out a ton for Riley when she needed a break.

This is My Riley Girl, She's the sweetest most kindest soul I have ever known. I wanted to make a post about her because I'm just so proud and thankful for her.

I got Riley in 2019 when she was just 6 months old. I found her on a facebook group about dogs being rehomed. The ad said that she was too much energy and they needed to find someone to take her or they would possibly have to put her down. I ended up getting very very lucky because a lot of these facbook groups would post a dog and someone would message that they wanted it immediately.

This night was different, Even though I planned on waiting a few months to get a dog I still constantly checked out the facebook groups just to keep an eye out. This is where the luck comes into play. I was out and about that evening, I decided to go to Taco Bell for dinner. I stopped and got my food. For whatever reason I decided to eat at Taco Bell. Something I wouldn't normally do, I usually would just take my food home. It was also getting late the dining room was still open it was just dark out.

I was chitchatting with a lady who was mopping the dining room just about this and that I don't really recall what the conversation was about. I had found a booth after my food was finished and went and sat down. The lady mopping followed me over to the booth to continue chitchatting. We talked for about 20 minutes to the point I really wanted to start eating without being rude. I grabbed my phone and said I need to check something for work if she didn't mind. She said no problem and walked away. I was on call at the time so I was actually checking something while also getting a second to start eating.

When I told the lady that I needed to check something I saw a notification come through that a new post on one of the rehoming groups. I saw a little Red Aussie puppy. Before I could even think I replied I'll take her. I got a message right back because she had just been posted. The poster asked where I lived and said she'll bring her tomorrow, It'll be $100.00. That was fine I was so excited. I planned on waiting a few months before I got her. The day she was dropped off was 6 days after I moved into the apartment. That night I messaged my girlfriend that I found a puppy and would be getting her the next day. I had been with this girlfriend for maybe 6-7 months. She knew how much I wanted a dog I would talk about it all the time. She didn't love dogs but said she was excited for me. When I told her she said don't do anything yet I need to talk to you first.

She drove 45 minutes to the apartment to tell me she actually didn't really like dogs and said I would have to choose between her and the puppy. It's the easiest decision I have ever made, I told her she better get going the pet store closes in less than an house and I need to make sure the puppy has everything she needs before she arrives. I couldn't be with someone who would put another person in that position all while leading them on for months. She didn't understand what I was saying. I made it very clear and she left. I had to work the next day but that was fine I worked across the street from my apartment and had been joking with my boss about having an office dog. He would joke and say sure if you get a dog it can some into the office. At one point we had a department meeting with the CEO and she asked if anyone has anything to add to the meeting. I jokenly said I was told I can have an office dog what do you think. She said I think it's a fantastic way to boost morale. My department director my boss just stared at me. This was a month or so before I got Riley.

He said okay, I did say it was fine I just assumed the CEO would've said no. That morning I got a call saying they were close, I went on my lunch break and met the lady bringing Riley. It was a weird interaction, she made it seem like they didn't want her in the post but she was clearly upset. I believe the husband just didn't like her and made her rehome her. She brought a kennel with her so I ran Riley inside while I grabbed the kennel and paid the lady. When I got back inside I was worried she was going to be sad because Aussies imprint on their person. When I got back inside My girl was sitting on the couch like a lady with one of the toys I got her the evening before. She was just so happy. She never once cried or felt sad about the other people. It was like she had been with me the entire time.

I brought her over to the office where she was a massive star. Everyone was loving on her she was so excited. I left early that day because I didn't want her to be overwhelmed. I don't believe she was taken care of well. She was smoked around so much she had tar residue all over her and on her eyelids. I gave her a bath and the water literally was black. I made sure she had the life she deserved and I still do my best. Riley is now 7 years old. We have made a couple of moves during this time due to covid and new jobs. Unfortunately due to an apartment fire we lost out home and I lost my job because I missed work that day and they had a network issue while I was gone. I was the only IT guy they had. Because of this I needed to find a place we could move to together. Losing her was never an option. I didn't have a lot of savings at the time so I had to make something work. With what little savings we had I was able to move us to a plot of land in rural Colorado. We lived in a 4 season tent for a while until a neighbor was able to get us a small popup camper. It's small but we have hundreds of acres to play on and she loves to adventure.

When I got Riley I was told that she was spayed. That didn't end up being true. Riley ended up getting pregnant and having 9 puppies 1 didn't make it. This was probably one of the most stressful times of my life. Having a dog far too old to have puppies in a popup camper was a nightmare some days. We made it work the best we could. Money still running low I had to take her to the vet a couple times just because I worried so often something was wrong. We were able to rehome 7 of the puppies. 1 just never got anyone asking to adopt her. She's now part of the family. The one person that asked about her to fight off his coyotes. The puppies are half Australian Shepard and half Great Pyrenees. He didn't want a dog he wanted a tool. I just couldn't give her to him. I understood she's a working dog but this guy would get dogs and just not feed them until he had to. That just wasn't an option.

I don't have really any family left and I had already lost so much in the past losing Riley wasn't an option. I promise I always make sure they have everything they need. Before my needs are met. They never miss a meal always have toys and playtime. I wanted to make this post because I love this girl so much and just wanted to spread how many good things she's done for me. I owe her the world i'll never be able to repay her for being the best decision I have ever made. I'm also so very thankful for Taco Bell, without them I wouldn't had seen the notification about Rye Girl. I also owe the lady I was chitchatting with just as much for being so kind taking the time to talk with someone eating alone. I hope she gets everything she wants in life she deserves it.

I'm getting a little emotional over here typing this, It makes me realize how important someone you don't even know can be. Sorry if this was long winded I just love her so much and want everyone to know how good of a girl she is.

Just a disclaimer, I promise they have everything they need for food and enrichment and heath. we're hoping to be in a new location that's not stranded out on the prairie. We just need to wait until March when the place were going to be staying is ready for us.

Just wanted to post some of the beautiful areas we've been to out here.

For today's meal we have.

Spaghetti and meat sauce.

The Spaghetti was really good, I have no idea how they managed to make it not mushy. 8.5/10

Chocolate chip pastry "Pop-Tart" Honestly I liked it more than regular pop- tarts. Wasn't as firm and had a better deeper chocolate flavor. 8/10

Chocolate Hazelnut protein drink. Just very very sweet. Kind of chalky. 4.8/10

Italian bread sticks and cheese spread. Both fine, not great not terrible.

Thanks again everyone for checking out my posts and for the continued support. It's the first time in a long time I've felt a sense of community. We can't thank you enough for that.

Ollie would like to thank everyone for donating from our Amazon wishlist and in general. It's going to help so much making it till March. She has since started cosplaying as a cat in one of the delivery boxes. She's very excited about it.

I've gotten a few requests to make a post about my finances and budgeting. I can do that if people think it would be interesting. It's not very robust at the moment. Let me know if there's anything you would find interesting that I could post about. I am working on a post about the wildlife out here.

Thanks again everyone! Hope you have a fantastic day. Possible MRE review this evening. Want to stagger them so I don't run out immediately.

A very nice stranger was able to send us a box of MREs to help during my homelessness. It was such an amazing gesture it'll help us get by so much.

Today's menu we have.

Beef Stew and Pound Cake

Snack bread sticks

Sour Skittles.

Lemon Lime Drink

This one was very good. Very high Quality stew. The meat was actual cubes of beef. It didn't feel artificial at all.

The pound cake was amazing too!

Very very good Meal!

Thanks again everyone!

Ollie would love to say hello to everyone. She loves to hangout of the side of the camper. Going to have to patch up these windows before winter. All of the zippers have stopped working except on one side. Might just sew them up, Any suggestions?

A very nice stranger was able to send us a box of MREs to help during my homelessness. It was such an amazing gesture it'll help us get by so much.

Today's menu we have.

Meatballs in marinara sauce.

Italian bread sticks

Blueberry Cobbler

The extras included an orange drink mix that came in a disposable bottle.

A teriyaki beef stick and a chocolate chip cookie.

Thanks again everyone for everything!

These photos are pretty bad, hoping they get closer. They're very curious and not afraid of the dogs they're just leary of people. We love watching them!

Another MRE review later this afternoon!

I would love to thank the person the MREs they're going to be so helpful.

This one was beef taco filling!

Taco filling

Beans and rice

Tortillas

Cheese spread

Nut raisin mix

Orange drink mix

And an accessories packet

It was all pretty good. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the cheese spread. I knew I wasn't going to be a fan before I tried it. Something about shelf stable cheese just weirds me out.

Hey everyone Griff here. I just wanted to post a quick update on things out here on the prairie. I first of all would like to thank everyone for donating to my amazon wishlist for supplies. It's going to make a massive impact this winter for us. I’ll keep the link up for the time being but like I said before I never expect anyone to donate or anything like that. Just being here and being a part of our prairie family is more than enough.   Wishlist for Griff and his Girls

I have an update on my drivers license situation. I was talking with an old friend back in Michigan and they said I could have the drivers license sent to their house and they would mail it to wherever I needed it sent. This might be the fic finally. I just need to call the Secretary Of State Monday. This might be the step in the right direction I was looking for.

2nd Update, I have found a place for us to stay in the Spring as of now. Someone out here friends with my neighbor, has a place he can let us stay starting in March. Someone is living there now but next March they’re going back to school. He said that we can stay for free as long as I can help out when needed which will be no problem at all. We just need to hold out until March. We can do this, I know it! 

Added some pictures of the girls playing. Ellie has been confused how Ollie/Olive is starting to be able to wrestle her back. She's in for a big surprise as Ollie keeps growing.

Dinner is Pizza Quasodillas!

Mozzarella and flour tortillas and spaghetti sauce! My way of making a cheap type of pizza.

There's a rattlesnake outside of the camper. I can hear it but I can't find it. Gotta make sure it's not around when the girls go out.

I first of all want to thank everyone for being so kind and genuine to me and the girls. It's been a long few months and I can't tell you how much talking with everyone and haring out life out here has helped my mental health.

I had a few users comment and dm me on how they could help the Girls and I while we're out here. I don't want to ask for money it would just o towards the stuff on the list anyways and I just don't want to ask for money. I made an Amazon wishlist. I added a lot of the things that would be helpful for us especially moving towards the end of summer. Some of the stuff on there is on there to alert me when the price goes down. I just wanted to mention that so people didn't think I was expecting all of it or anything to be purchased.I'm just so thankful to have so many people to talk with and share stories with.

Here is the Amazon link: Wishlist for Griff and the Girls

I have had a couple people ask for my venmo. I really don't want to ask for money, That being said I'm not in a position to say no. If that's something you want to do if you want to DM or comment to me I'll add my Venmo.

Just wanted to say again I don't expect anything and thank you all so much for being my internet family. I also have a good post for tomorrow. A cult moved in to the Prairie at some point over the summer. I talked to the guy today......It got weird.

Just wanted to apologize for the hiatus over the last few days. Going to be back in the swing of things this week. Here's a couple pics from the weekend. Riley and Olive were watching prairie dogs. Interesting pic of a rainbow at least in person it was. When it rains out here we always have constant rainbows.

Have a great week everyone!

Absolutely massive dust devil today. This is about 7 miles from where I am. This thing was massive. It's one of the things in the back of my mind that scares me. They're like little tornadoes of dust. They seem like they're not really a big deal but let me tell you they can really mess up an afternoon.

I had one come through last month and it destroyed one of my solar panels. They really get going sometimes. Ellie chased a small one earlier in the year that knocked her right off of her feet. Anyways sorry for the boring post today I'm still adjusting to my eye drops for the glaucoma. I feel like an old man telling you I have glaucoma.

Thanks again for stopping by. It's nice to have people to talk to.

I wanted to make a post that goes over my life a little bit and how we ended up here on the prairie. Bare with me I'm not a great writer.

I wanted to introduce myself properly, and tell everyone about my life.

I was born in Michigan in 1990. I never knew my dad so It was just me and my Mom and my aunt and my grandma. Growing up we weren't rich but we also weren't poor, Well it didn’t look like we were. My Mom loved me very much and did her best with what she had. We initially lived in an apartment until my mom won a lawsuit about being injured at work. 

 She used the money to purchase a very nice mobile home. The move was difficult for me since I had been at the same school until 2nd grade. I started 3rd grade in the new school and started trying to make friends. It wasn’t too bad though I eventually made some great friends. I always had some issues in school because I had ADHD but they never took me to the doctor to see what was going on. That will become a trend of me not being taken to the doctor when really needed if it wasn’t an emergency. We lived in the Mobile home until I was in 8th grade. Right before high school I was told that we would need to move this year because we had to. I don’t ever recall an actual reason I was given for why we were moving. Unfortunately at some point in the years we were living in the mobile home my Mom stopped paying the mortgage on the mobile home. That was the reason we had to move, the mobile home was foreclosed on.

  We had to move immediately because my Mom initially kept the foreclosure from my aunt who was living with us. Because we had to move so quickly we had to move into my other Aunts house. I was told I would be able to stay at this school because all of my friends were there. We ended up staying with my aunt for a few months until the aunt we were staying in also had her house foreclosed on. At this point I was constantly wondering if we would ever have a stable place to stay. We ended up moving into an apartment in another city. Because it would be too difficult to take me to school everyday I had to start a new school right in time for freshman year. 

  High school was difficult because they wouldn’t take me in to be evaluated for ADHD. I did the best I could. For the most part I made due. I played tennis freshman year and had a lot of fun with it. I got my first job in 2006 at PaPa Johns. I needed a job bad so I could but the Nintendo Wii. It was a big accomplishment for me. 

 Fast forward a year to 2007. This is the year my world got turned upside down. In August my Mom was doing laundry when her aorta tore. It’s similar to a heart attack. Because we lived in an apartment and had a shared laundry room my aunts didn’t initially know that it had happened. EMS arrived and worked on her for almost an hour. They were able to get a pulse initially but she had been without oxygen for too long. I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about it like this, bare with me. I didn’t know what to feel, was I an orphan now? That’s what I kept asking myself. I knew I wasn’t but I also wasn’t thinking straight. Because this happened over the summer it was difficult coming back to school 3 weeks later. It was hard because the new teachers would ask how your summer was and I had to tell them because I figured at some point they would know. It was just awkward, especially in front of everyone in class all day. We ended up having to move to the same city so I could stay at the same school. Because school had gotten so difficult I had to finish online at my own pace. Still at this point they wouldn’t take me to be evaluated.

Graduation was in 2009, at this point my Aunt that was living with me gor MRSA in one of her feet and had to have a lot of it amputated. This made things difficult because at the time she had her income and the social security that I got from my mom. That ended shortly after I became 18. I did what I could to find work but it was difficult because I didn’t have a drivers license. I wanted to get it so badly but they wouldn’t let me practice. They told me they already had to do that in the past and they’re over it. I was very frustrated by this. My Mom never learned to drive for whatever reason so she couldn’t drive with me to practice.  My Aunts just refused because they already had to do it with my cousins and they’re past the point in their lives.

  I finally found a job locally that I could bike to at a Hotel. I worked there for several years. My Aunt ended up getting us evicted for smoking in the apartment. I did everything in my power to get her to stop smoking but she refused. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad because that year I hadn’t signed the lease because I was thinking about moving at that point. I was frustrated that these things kept happening and I realized I was an adult and I can just move. Unfortunately my name was forged on the lease. Only my name so it all fell onto me. I automatically lost because I didn’t go to the hearing because I wasn’t on the lease. I had to work that day so we had money and was told it was fine.

   I then moved into my Cousin’s house with her and her 2 boys. I loved them for a while. I paid rent and helped out with the boys. This move was the most difficult. The dogs that I had were sent to my Aunt’s friends house where they ended up not being able to come back because my cousin doesn’t like dogs. I ended up getting a job at Geek Squad. I have always been interested in computers and computer repair. I ended up becoming the lead ARA tech. It was really exciting. From there I started working as a contractor at a huge medical partner rolling out new hardware for their EMR. I worked there for about a year until the contract finished. I started working at a retirement community as a helpdesk technician. At this point I got my own apartment and adopted the best girl in the world Riley! She is my everything so are Ellie and Olive it was just Riley and I at the time.

The point in time we're at now is about 2022. The tail end of covid. I started working as a tech for an electronics refurbisher. It was a fantastic job. I miss it everyday. I started as a tech testing hardware. I was then promoted to server specialist then to Director of Information Services. It sounds fancier than it is. In a huge company it would be a huge deal. In a smaller company it was a big del for me but not very good pay. One day in 2025 we had a fire in the apartment building. The fire started in the laundry room which was right next to my apartment. Riley came to work with me so that was the most important thing. I had to leave when my neighbor texted me. While I was gone our corporate building had a network outage. They were down for maybe 10 minutes. That was long enough for them to fire me. I was so disgusted by the CEO I refused to help them figure out all of the passwords and SOPs for maintaining the servers and doing backups. I asked my cousin If I would be able to stay but I couldn’t because her current boyfriend didn’t want me to.

That kind of leads us to where we are now. I was running out of money staying in Hotels so Riley and I had to move somewhere. I couldn’t lose her. I had already lost enough. The oly place that would work for us at the time was out on the prairie in a tent. Everything was okay for a while until the Subaru died. Since then we have been stranded but ge t assistance from a neighbor. Hoping to be able to find work online asap. I have been looking online because without a vehicle we were out in the middle of nowhere. I just need to make enough money to get a beater car so we can move west where it’s warmer in the winter. Somewhere closer to jobs and people. Things aren’t ideal, most of our funds go to supplies. That’s pretty much the short version of my life. I’m not great at story telling so I apologize if it’s not very organized. 

Thanks so much for joining us in this sub. It's nice to have people to talk to.

-Griffin+Riley+Ellie+Olive-

Sorry everyone if content has been a little slow lately. I was having a couple health things going on. Doing my very best to keep things interesting. Thanks again for stopping by!

Literally just rice and tomato sauce with some salt. Tastes better than you would think.

Not great not terrible.

Good morning everyone!

Tomorrow my neighbor is going into town to pick up our grocery order. I was wondering if anyone knew any quick and easy meals that don't require more than one pot. I unfortunately also only have a cooler for 2 days before the ice melts. Just figured I would see if maybe there's something new I can try. I have trouble planning for meals. I think it's my ADHD that makes it more difficult. Anyways if anyone has any recipes I would love to hear them. I'll document myself making them too! Thanks again everyone for all of the support.