Unwelcome visitors

I got a call from Bill on Thursday saying that when he got down to the ‘Barn’ that morning there was a cow and her calf in the yard. They had walked all over leaving lots of tracks in the mud (as well as cow pies) but had only broken one thing so far. He was going to call around to the farmers nearby to see who she might belong to.



So, on Friday when I got down there he had found out that they were indeed one of the neighbors and not only had this cow and calf gotten out but 37 total cows had gotten out. Guess where they all ended up? In our Campground! I drove the mule back to check out the damage and make sure we didn’t still have cows and it’s a mess. (Sorry no pictures, I was too busy trying to right everything) They had knocked over every statue we had except two. I was afraid they had broken one but on closer inspection they hadn’t – thankfully. They trampled everything leaving a muddy mess for us.

We had straw stored in the lean to from Samhain that we use in the spring to cover wet patches for Beltane. They not only ate some of it (I didn’t think cows would eat straw – just hay) they managed to spread it all over the place breaking every bale we had. So now we will have to purchase new straw next year – unless the farmer is willing to replace it.

Well, I guess it could have been worse but we are planning on having Imbolc this weekend in the campground – Bill will have to shovel up the cow pies (in the fire pit!) and try to spread some of that straw around a bit over the churned up mess the cows left before we can use it.

In other news, we have STAIRS! Woot! I have wanted him to get the stairs done for quite some time and now we finally have them. He even ran electric upstairs for me so that I can possibly work from up there on Friday or Mondays. I’m so excited!





He also has been bringing more and more of this shop equipment down to the new shop – this piece was especially heavy – and he thought just the top would be heavy – the bottom half was worse but he did it all by himself!

Homesteading Update:

Bill had gotten a lot of things done inside before I got there on Friday. The furnace is in and working:



He has started bringing his shop equipment up to the new place from the old place:


(LOL Yes, the stereo and TV are important bits of his shop!)


He swept the floor (this was actually a major thing as we have been tracking in mud and dirt for several months.


( And you can see in the back ground some of his actual shop equipment for wood working here.)



Our friend Cheri came by on Saturday to help us with a few of the trees that needed taking down that Bill just couldn’t manage by himself. So we have lots of piles of Cedar to chip and a big pile of apple to burn in the fireplace or smoker. We have just one more branch of the big apple tree to clean up but he and I should be able to handle that on our own.

We also managed to extend the 4 wheeler path back through the back side of the property to the fence so we can now travel a complete circle around the back half of the property. We found where the neighbors have been bringing their four wheeler over our property again to get to a tree stand. Not sure if the stand is on our property but their path sure is! They had cut the fence again and hauled off all the brush we had piled in front of it to keep them out. So we piled tree trunks in front this time and reattached the barbed wire. We are going to have to make getting a fence up back there a priority to keep them out. If they cut the new fence then we can call the sheriff. Right now we could still probably call the game warden because they hunt illegally all the time (out of season and with live traps).

We’ll see what they say when Bill gets a chance to talk to them. They weren’t home (or not answering the door) when we tried to talk to them on Sunday.

In Lieu of New Year’s Resolutions

I have never been one to do New Year’s Resolutions – they never stick anyway. Instead I am focusing on continuation. Continuation of healthy eating habits. Continuation of work on the new house (the barn) which had stalled out this fall due to lack of funds and motivation. Continuation of trying to be more active.

I know these all sound like resolutions don’t they? But these are all things that I have been doing all along but with the holidays I have become a bit lax. So, I am not going to go out this week and swim 10 miles, or complete the house in one day or starve myself into thinness – instead I am going to get back on the track I was on. The holidays were just a stop over for a bit.

This weekend I do have some plans. I will be going back down to Bill’s house and we plan to work on either the yard or the barn depending on the weather. So far it’s been a very mild winter with temps in the 50’s so we should be able to take down some cedar trees that need to be brought down, clean up around the apple tree and pile up all the limbs for mulching. If the weather is not going to cooperate this weekend then we have plenty to do inside the barn – putting in stairs, running duct work, running wiring, and insulation. Either way, some progress is going to be made at the property and I will hopefully remember to take pictures.

This and That

It’s been several weeks since I posted a real update – I have to think back on all that has been going on.

A few weeks ago some friends of ours called to see if we would like a loom.  It’s a huge thing – will probably be over 10 feet long all set up.  I couldn’t see it going into the dump so I took it.  It’s going to live in the shed until we have a place to set it up.  Bill says I need to get a spindle so I can spin the dog’s hair into thread to weave!  By the looks of what we get from the dogs several times a year we could probably made several rugs or even clothes with it!

Production on the house has pretty much come to a standstill.  Lack of funds is our major problem.  We need to get the floor upstairs finished and the furnace in downstairs before any more major projects can be started.  I’m hoping for a nice tax refund to help with both of those things.  Until then, the ‘barn’ has been used for storing the loom temporarily and we’ve ‘camped’ in it a couple of times.  Bill is slowly getting his tools moved down there so that the ‘shop’ part of it can be operational soon.

We’ve both been cleaning and clearing at home.  I have 13 years of stuff to go through and decide to keep, pitch or give away.  I’ve started in the computer room.  The old computer finally gave out – I need to get the hard drive in to have it moved to an external drive so I can still get to the documents.  I have moved bookcases in and all my books are now living in one place.  We need to start calling it the library now instead of the computer room!  I still have some clearing to do in there but it’s a major improvement.

There is finally some movement on my mother’s house.  My sister agreed to auction it off.  The auction is set for the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I had been making trips up there to try to clear it out and it just seemed to not be getting anywhere.  This auctioneer will go through and stage everything and set it all up for us!  I’m hoping we get enough from the sale to pay him and both of us.  Hopefully, that will be enough to finish the ‘barn’!

Well, that’s all I can think of for now.  Tomorrow I’ll be taking Austen to the oral surgeon to get his wisdom teeth out.  I hope he has a better time of it than I did.  He’s young so maybe that will be to his advantage.  J

Work Weekend

There was some progress on ‘the barn’ this past few weeks – insulation is up on one wall, the cross supports are up, the big hole where the stairs are supposed to be has been partially uncovered, the ditch for the well pipe to ‘the barn’ is dug and the pipe has been laid out in the yard to uncurl – little things that like. Most of the work this week and all of the work this weekend was in the campground.

We are having our annual Samhain festival October 14 – 16 and the campground needed some work. We had several trees that have been down for 2+ years that needed to be cut up, split and stacked. We also needed to clear some new areas for camping as we are expecting a few more this year than we had last year. The thing with having more people and more tents is that our labyrinth circle has to get bigger which pushes the tents back farther into the woods.

We got all of the trees cleared, split and stacked and now have over 3 cord of wood – I don’t think Bill will have any trouble heating the woods for Samhain this year! We also took down some dead trees that were starting to drop branches and needed to come down for safety.

We had a small Mabon ritual on Saturday night where I burned our corn dolly that I had made 2+ years ago (seems to be a trend here) and we charged the new one. We all said what we were thankful for and then we sat around the fire and had a nice fellowship afterward.

All and all it was a good weekend and we had some great friends come out to help us. I’m thankful for those friends!

What’s happening?

It’s been a lovely long Labor Day weekend and so much went on and so much is yet to come this week that I decided I would bunch it all into one post.  So, here goes:

I worked from home on Friday so I was there when Erik got home from College for the weekend.  I had made one of his favorite meals – Beef stroganoff.  He ate and we caught up on all that was going on at school and here at home then his girlfriend got off work and came over.  We sat and talked and pulled out old photo albums since she wanted to see him with blond hair (yes, he was almost completely white headed when we lived in Arizona!)

I got up the next morning and headed down to the property.  Bill had been busy putting the rest of the floor down in the shop and I wanted to see it. 

He worked on putting in more electrical wiring and putting up walls most of the rest of the weekend.

We had folks renting out the campground this weekend so we spend evenings down there with them around the camp fire.  I just love hanging out in the woods!  We put an air mattress up in the shop on Sunday night and slept there – our first night in the new place!  J  Bill also had dug the water line from the well.  We just need to get the well checked and run the pipe from it to the house.

As you can see in the picture – my car is fixed.  Bill’s neighbor John did the work.  He is very good – you can’t tell it was ever wrecked!

Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the window of the shop while Bill was working and I looked out and saw a bobcat loping through the front yard!  I didn’t want to spook it so I was trying to get Bill’s attention.  He looked out the window closest to him and could see it as well.  Unfortunately, it moved on before I could get a picture.  It’s pretty cool to think we have such a beautiful creature living on our land.  J

I came home yesterday afternoon to spend some time with Erik before he went back to school.  We went to get pizza at the place where all the kids work.  Then he had to pack and leave when we got home.  *Sigh* I do miss him.

Tom called that evening.  He was telling me all about what he is learning at AIT (well, not everything but the general coolness of it according to him.)  He really likes this and can’t wait to get to Eglin AFB to start the second part of his training.  He will have a lot more freedom on base there and will probably be taking his car and motorcycle with him to Florida. 

Aubri came in to my room last night to have me rub her back.  She has had a back ache for a few days now.  We had thought maybe she had just slept wrong but it’s getting worse and when I was rubbing her back she has a really tender spot.  We have a doctor’s appt this afternoon to find out what is going on with that.

JAVA class is kicking my butt!  I used to be really good at math but that was 30 years ago!  I did all my homework then checked my answers with the back of the book – I don’t get the same things.  I rechecked my math and I just don’t get it.  This may be a really long semester!

This Thursday is Aubri’s 16^th birthday but since I have class we will be taking her and her friends to Sky Zone on Friday for her party.  Erik is coming home for the weekend and will be going too.  I’m hoping that Bill will be able to come up for the weekend and maybe we can go up to my mom’s house and finish getting my sister’s stuff moved out so we can sell it.  We really need the money and we really need to get rid of the house.

I’m taking another week off from cooking.  I have so many leftovers I need to eat up.  Aubri bought some things to put in the freezer last week and we have to move some to the outside freezer as I had so many leftovers in the way.  J

Ok, enough rambles – on with the week.

Progress on ‘the barn’

Bill has started putting the hardwood floor down in the shop:

We got this hard wood at Lumber Liquidators for $.87 a square foot.  It’s utility grade which means it has some holes, some scratches, some missing tongues in the tongue and groove and a lot of short pieces.  But for the shop – it’s perfect and I may even put it upstairs depending on how it looks once it’s stained and finished.  I like it so far.

Weekend Roundup

Bill came up on Thursday with the trailer to haul some of the stuff in the garage and/or basement down to the house to store.  First, it was supposed to rain on Friday so there was no loading up the trailer and getting everything wet but we did manage to clean out the computer room and load most of that in the back of the truck where it would be covered.  I can now get to my desk to work on Fridays!  Woot!  Second, we would not have been able to unload the trailer of stuff until we had rearranged the shed to put it all in (lack of planning on Bill’s part there ;) so pulling the trailer up was really a mute point.

Friday is my work from home day so most of this loading took place on Friday.  While this was going on we got some bad news – a friend of our passed into the Summerland unexpectedly (at least to us).  Apparently he had had some health issues that caused this.  Godspeed my friend.

Bill really wanted to leave on Friday night instead of Saturday because he wanted to look at my Escape and see what was making a noise.  So despite the fact that I wanted to go to the O’Fallon Farmers Market on Saturday morning to get more Goat Milk Soap and the fact that he pulled the trailer up to St. Louis for nothing – we left Friday night.  I gave money and a list to Erik so that he could go to the Farmers Market in the morning and get my soap (which he did – Oh delicious!) 

So Saturday morning we got up early so that Bill could go check on my car.  I puttered around the house a bit and watched a few episodes of Star Gate Universe the final season until he returned to tell me that my car was great!  John (who had completed the body work from the deer episode) had checked out the noise as well and determined that it was my brakes (which are brand new) making the noise.  I guess that happens sometimes.  I’ll keep an ear on it and see if it goes away.

So we ended up going to the Farmer’s Market in Fredericktown instead where I bought a Patty Pan Squash.  I haven’t tried it yet but it looks very interesting.  I think I might do something with it tonight for dinner.  Anyway, Justin and Jennifer (Bill’s son and daughter-in-law) were supposed to be coming for dinner that evening about 4:00 so we got our errands done in town and came back to the property so that Bill could finish putting pot lights up in the shop and getting a switch in.

Justin called about 2:30 to tell us that they were still in Rolla, MO.  They had borrowed Jennifer’s Dad’s little trailer to haul some furniture home and they had just finished loading it so it would be a couple hours before they got home.  Bill decided to push back starting the grill for the steaks until about 4:00.  As these things usually go, he decided to start the grill about 3:45 instead, so when he went out at 4:15 to check on the coals his phone rang – Justin and Jennifer were stuck in St. James, MO – the wheel on the trailer they were hauling home had broken and was trying to come off! 

Good thing we had not put the steaks on the grill yet – I turned the fire off under the corn that I had just put on and we loaded up to take the big trailer over to St. James to bring the little trailer home on.  I should have taken pictures – it looked very funny once they got the little trailer full of furniture loaded up on the big trailer and tied down!  By the time we got that done, we were hungry, it was about 7:00 and there was no way we were going to have steak for dinner on Saturday night.  So we ended up eating at Burger King in St. James and got home about 10:00!

The kids decided that they could come for Sunday dinner instead.  It was a beautiful day – in the 70’s so we sat out under the tree in the back yard and Bill grilled steaks and mushrooms.  Noah (Justin and Jennifer’s 4 year old son) ran all over the back yard with the dogs and a good time was had by all.

So the weekend didn’t end up quite as it had been planned but everything worked out ok in the end.

Oh and I heard from Tom on Saturday.  The General did an inspection of the barracks and out of 300 in his battalion; he was one of the top 10 that got an award from the General for excellence.  The three dogs are actually wolves and represent his battalion.

Now considering what his room used to look like at home… this is quite the change for him!  LOL!  I guess this army thing has taught him not only to eat his vegetables but to keep his room clean too!  ;)

Weekend Roundup

It's been HOT HOT HOT here in St. Louis and as I drove south this weekend to the country place it just kept getting hotter!  The grass is fried at my house - it's all brown and hasn't grown an inch since Bill mowed it 2 WEEKS AGO!  I met Bill on our road when I got down there; he was on his way from his house to the 'barn' on the mule.  So back to the house we went to unpack my car and then we hopped back on the mule and up to the 'barn' not many changes that were picture worthy - he has the trench filled back in, power inside, and several lights up so that he can work at night (cooler that way).  It was thundering a bit so we decided to head back up to the house and get the truck to go into town for groceries.  Unfortunately, nothing ever came of the rain - at least not at our place.

Saturday morning we decided to get up and go garage saleing before it got too hot.  I think everyone else decided that it was too hot to start so we never saw any sales in Fredericktown and just a few hardy souls in Farmington.  But mostly it was clothes and kids stuff - neither of what we were looking for.  So we poked around in a junk store for a while then on toward the St. Francis County fair.  I had never been to this fair and Bill said he had not been in years.  As we pulled up to the gate I was soooo disappointed.  The entire fair fit on the football field!  Rides, animal barns, crafts everything - we decided that it wasn't worth $6 apiece to get in and went to lunch instead!

After lunch as we were on our way to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things it started to rain.  Beautiful big luscious drops of rain splattering the windshield!  Oh and it cooled down.  In the Wal-mart parking lot we saw lots of folks running to their cars but this one lady just made me burst out laughing!

She has a Wal-Mart bag over her head!  I saw her coming out of the store with it positioned so only her eyes and nose were sticking out of where she had tied it on.  I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!  I had to get a picture - she was parked just a few spots over from us and I couldn't get her as she put her groceries in the back of her car (adjusting the bag every few seconds as it kept moving around on her) so I got her as she put the cart away.   LOL!

The rain was much needed and appreciated but it brought the muggies in afterward.  We pretty much puttered around the homestead all afternoon and evening.  Then Sunday Bill loaded his truck up with tools and brought me back home.  I'm leaving my car down at his place so that his neighbor can fix it.  John has a body shop right there at Bill's house and after he painted my back door a few weeks ago, he still has paint to match!  So the deer damage will be fixed this week while we are in South Caroline for Tom's graduation.  Bill will be staying at the house to take care of the animals and to put the tile down in my bathroom! Woo Hoo!! 

So, tonight I have to go home and pack for the trip to SC.  We are going to try to carry on our bags (I think backpacks will work fine) so that we don't have to worry about loosing anything on the flight and I'm cheap - it cost $25 per bag ($35 if you have two) per person to check your luggage!  That would be an additional $100 for us to fly - no thanks; we'll just pack clothes and use the hotel's shampoo and soap.  I told the boys we can go to Wal-Mart and get disposable razors if they feel the need to shave while we are there.

The cool thing is I think we will have time to go to the ocean on Friday before our flight out!  The kids were all excited about that last night when I talked to them about it.  So, I may or may not be able to update while I'm there (we will have Tom's laptop with us) but I will have pictures when I get back.  :)

Hello and weekend update

I've come from Live Journal.  They have been down for 3 days and that's just not acceptable!  So here I am.  I'll try to get all my old posts from there over to here soon but until then - here I am!  :) 

This weekend really had some ups and downs.  Friday night seemed like everything that could happen did but it all turned out good. 

(bear with me - on LJ I would have put a cut here so that you didn't have to see everything unless you wanted too - but I don't know how to do that here yet so until then you get it all!  *smile* )

Friday afternoon – stopped by my friend Cheri's house and plundered her garden while I was there.  On the way to Farmington from her house I saw a momma turkey and one chick cross the road in front of me.  They jumped into the verge on the other side and disappeared into the woods.

Friday night – after stopping in Farmington to have dinner with Bill and a trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries, on the way to his house I hit a deer.  Yes, it jumped right out in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it.  I thought I had killed it but Bill said it jumped up and ran like the wind off into the woods.  I don’t know if it went off and died later or if it was just bruised but it certainly did damage to my Escape. 

I took these pictures on Saturday morning since it was dark and we couldn’t really see what the total damage was yet. 

Of course I was upset at hitting the deer and I couldn’t drive very fast on the way home because we didn’t know if the hood would pop up so when I had a small raccoon run out in front of me on the drive back to Bill’s, I was able to swerve around him and miss him.  What was it with animals trying to commit suicide in front of me!

Then we went into Fredericktown to try to find some of the things on my grocery list that they didn’t have at Wal-Mart the night before – nothing.  This is a small town and I realize that they aren’t quite in the 20^th century yet but pita bread?  They had never heard of it before!  (OMG where am I moving to?)  I wasn’t surprised then that they didn’t have the meat either.  I can get it frozen in my grocery story (they don’t have fresh) and it’s acceptable.  They also didn’t have shallots or swish chard.  *sigh*

So, my meal plans got all re-arranged this weekend but I did manage to stay within my points (weight watchers) and was able to have pizza when I got home last night.

Bill had the trench dug for the electric wire coming from the pole to the house on Friday.

So we picked went to get the wire and a breaker box on Saturday while we were in town but we couldn’t pick up the wire because the owner of the hardware store had to move the fork lift and in order to move that he had to move his pickup truck – which had a flat.  So, they changed the flat on the truck and delivered the wire about 3:00.  There are some advantages to living in a small community – one they trust you to take the wire home, cut what you want and bring back the roll – that is unless they have a flat on the pickup truck!  LOL  But the kid that brought it out helped Bill get it rolled out into the trench – we gave him a Gatorade and sat in the shade for a few minutes (Bill and he talking as men do when they have a few minutes in the shade) and the he was on his way.

(Here Bill is tieing the wire to the mule so that he can pull it with the mule the rest of the way - that wire is heavy!)

It was so hot that we took a break for dinner after they got the wire laid – besides it looked (and sounded) like it was going to rain.   So I went back to the house and cooked dinner.  After dinner and by the time it cooled off enough to think about working on the wire it was dark. 

Sunday we went out to hook up the box and the wire to the pole.  Bill had to cut the floor so that he could run the wire under the shop and up to the box.

As we were driving the mule up to the property we were noticing the sky was getting dark and there were some rumbles off in the distance.  The day before when it had looked like that we got maybe a half dozen drops and that was it so we didn’t think much about the impending rain…. Until it started to sprinkle and the wind picked up.  We had opened all the windows in the shop to let the breeze blow through and as Bill stood up and looked out one of the windows he commented that we probably should think about going back up to the house.  I looked out said window and saw the rain coming across the field and said if we were going we better go now.

So we closed all the windows and jumped on the mule as big fat wet drops started to fall and the wind really picked up.  Strangely as we drove madly down the road toward Bill’s house the rain let up a bit and the wind dyed down but not enough that it actually stopped so we kept going.  We put the mule away, closed the doors and ran into the house just as the storm broke.  Big booms, trees blowing over sideways, rain so hard you could hardly see – yeah, we made it just in time!

The rain was certainly needed and it brought in much cooler air but once it was over and we went back up to the property – the trench was full of water and there would be no working on electricity that day! 

Bill called me later last night when I got home and told me that the rain soaked in very fast – the trench was still a little muddy but the water had gone down so he was working last night at putting the breaker box up and snaking the wire through the conduit into the shop.  By this afternoon, we should have power!    Woo Hoo!

He’s going to call the well guys this week to have them come out and check the well.  Maybe by this weekend we can have water in the shop too!

Oh and I almost forgot – I finally got to try fried green tomatoes.

I like them!