Here comes the rain. AGAIN.

As unbelievable as it may sound, we are gearing up for what looks to be 9 days of rain.

I am not so sure I like this!   The silver lining here is once again, that the kitchen roof is FINISHED!

We are very fortunate to have James and Chris helping us out on these jobs around the house.
  I hope they know how much they are appreciated.

Our new neighbors, on Sunflower Lane, are feeling the same appreciation towards the new friends they are making here in the area.

They tell me often how much they appreciate all the help they are getting.  After two ( what must have been very long) weeks without it, their power was turned on today. 
Actually,  the power company hooked up the pole on Monday. It was a matter of hooking the cabin to the pole box that was a problem.I don't usually like to mess with the big hook up of power. I can do the inside work just fine, but don't care to mess with anything near the outside pole. Besides I've already had big hair. Do I need to remind you of the 80's? 


So, back to the power problem........... "Hey, Jerry!"

The same good ol' boy that showed up with a big back hoe to help get the cabin up the road, was there today to help with the power problem. He even supplied the wiring needed!

Thanks Jerry, you're a heck of a guy!

Now to some serious business...

I suppose enough time has passed since killing the old hen, that now, I can speak of it.

To say it was not pretty, would be a definite understatement. I will be sure to use a block to chop the poor things head off next time.  The hillbilly showing us  how he cleans them just had it dangling  from his hands and took a few chops with the butcher knife. O.K., several chops.  

That kid was slinging chicken guts all over the back yard and the dogs were loving it!  Strange it is, to see the wings of a chicken flying without the bird attached!

Yes, I do believe I will approach it a little better next time.
On  my own.

Once we got the head (and those pitiful eyes), and the feet out of the way, I knew what to expect. I've had my hand shoved far up enough turkeys at Classic Event's to have a pretty good feel for it

While we are talking about poultry, I should mention the two ducks we've been raising for a few weeks now.

Them critters grow up fast! In the last week they are more than double their original size. They love when I fill the water and drink and play when it is being poured into the bowl. They've started to respond to my sounds when I come in to feed and water them. I did the same with them as I did with my first batch of chickens, told the lady working at  http://www.cacklehatchery.com/ to just pick me out two that would be pretty.

If you ever need chickens, ducks or peafowl , these are the people to see.

Tell them I sent you.

It won't help because they won't know me, but do it anyway.

I would like to send out a big hillbilly congrats to Mark's nephew, Leo. He is the father of twins today.

A boy and a girl. 

I was sure to let Mark know how old he had become because he was now a GREAT-Uncle. But then he reminded me that I held that title well before he did. 
Damn it!!.

He got a laugh a few weeks ago upon hearing what one of his sisters was suggesting for names for the babies.

Ready for it?

Denise, and .......................... (drum roll)......................... Danephew.

Congrats Leo and family!  Great news!

Tomorrow's plans include a bit of gardening in the morning and then try to get on track with the laundry. 
Such fun isn't it?

Oh, the life of this country boy!

Lessons in Karma

I have long held to the belief that whatever energy you put out into the world around you is going to be the same energy that you, in turn, receive.

That was especially true this past week.

 At the start of this week I found myself working the soil and putting in a garden. 

I love to garden, more than I had ever realized, and to reap the rewards of a bit of hard work at the end of the season.

Our friends Jerry and Linda have a wonderful farm less than two miles from us here at Origanna Woods.  That's part of it above.

The garden  soil has been turned and properly fertilized with an abundance of  beautiful manure. ( yes, beautiful)

It's  a bit odd to be standing beside three piles of shit that are taller that yourself!

These two nice folks have so many other projects going on that they hardly had the time to even consider planting. 

Let me help! 

Keeping in mind, this is the same Jerry who got a call from us last week, a call of desperation. Our new neighbors were here and had no way of getting their cabin up the hill or leveled in place. Jerry was there in less than a half hour with a back hoe, clearing and widening the road and then pulling the semi and attached cabin up the hill. 

Needless to say, when I heard he wanted a garden but lacked the ability to put one in place, I jumped at the chance to return the favor. After a little conversation and  'careful' planning, we were ready to get to work. With the amount of room to fill, it was obvious there would be much left over garden space.

We managed to come to the conclusion that any extra harvest would be shared by people we knew that really needed the food. Share the bounty. Thirty tomato plants is a lot, especially seeing as we were only planting for a total of 4 people at the start of the project.

This is the long view of the garden. We've managed to plant 32 rows of veggies so far. 

Ok, fruit and veggies if you want to get technical about it!

The KARMA comes into play here because of the work I put in at Abundant Acres, I was given the tomato and pepper plants.  

Batting a thousand so far.

FREE veggies for the year??

SWEET!

This is Mr. Steve Kelly, one of our neighbors on the hill. He is pointing out some of the crop damage due to the hail storm we had yesterday. Only a few broken plants, but they should survive! He's quite proud of the hat he's wearing because it holds one of the tail feathers from my rooster. The same rooster that chases him when he comes to the house! The same rooster that makes him scream like a little girl!

I think he believes it's a trophy of sorts.

 This is the same neighbor I am helping with the wind chimes that we've put on Ebay.

Here's a couple to look at....

Aren't they just full of rustic charm?

Steve's late mother had obviously been prepared to make wind chimes for years judging by the amount of prepped bottles and rings that we've found. It's just going to be a matter of us piecing them all together.

It would be great to sell these so he has a bit of extra income. Check em out!

Mid-week Steve and I went to help the cabin neighbors by cutting out some windows in their stuffy unventilated home.  They seem to be constantly surprised by the amount of help they receive from people they've known less than two weeks.

Again, it's what you put out there......

KARMA also visited the next day while I was working at Gracie's Market. A neighbor from the other side of the hill that I've not really talked to very  much, showed up and asked if I knew anybody that could use a FREE wood chipper and a FREE lawnmower. I excitedly showed him to my van and we loaded them up! Once we got them home and filled the oil they fired right up! SWEET!

Thank you KARMA!

Time to end this one, looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

Later,

J

The word of the day is ................ WORRY

I was worrying that our kitchen roof would hold under the relentless rain, please,  just for a few more days. 

Worrying that my hometown would not get flooded by the raging Mississippi River. 

Worrying that our new neighbors would not be able to get their new cabin up the road.

Worry,worry, worry. 

Worry that worry looked wrong so I had to double check my spelling! 

Worrying about the side effects of worrying even.

 I really started to get concerned when my Dad called me this afternoon, and it's always great to hear his voice. Especially if it's my birthday, and he's on the other end of the line singing Happy Birthday to me in that strong Barnett baritone voice. Today was different, he was calling  to let me know that the Mississippi river was at an elevation of 49 1/2 feet.  The top of the seawall is at 50 feet.  My hometown is just on the other side of this seawall. And, it's still raining there. Things were being packed up for safety,  and Mom was planning on leaving town  on Wednesday, but my Dad decided he was going to wait until a  mandatory evacuation was announced before he leaves.

It scares me to death to think that after all the bad things that have happened in Caruthersville over the past few years that now is the time to prepare for another  possible small-town disaster

. I still find myself, on occasion, watching this video on youtube that shows the destruction the tornado ravaged on the town just a few years ago.

I am keeping the family,  the friends, the spirit of Caruthersville in my prayers for a few days. Let's hope for the best.

Considering what these families in the Bootheel  are dealing with, it seems to  make my worries of our leaky roof now seem very trivial.

I've been worried about a few cookbooks, yet my parents and hometown neighbors are worried about their homes and safety. 

One thing that I have learned from all this is that the residents of Caruthersville are strong and will overcome any obstacle placed before them.

Back here, in the Origanna Woods, our plan of getting a project done each week is rapidly falling behind schedule. 

One thing leads to another, and before you know it the week is over.Projects untouched.

Between Gracie's market and the few hours of time spent at Abundant Acres, I've managed to push aside some of the things needing to be done here.

  I hope to change that around tomorrow.

The woods got a bit of a boost in the population over the weekend. We were happy to welcome our new neighbors to Sunflower Lane. 

It was only a matter of getting the 40 foot cabin up the treacherous hill that is in the heart of the lane, not to mention getting it around the sharp right hand curve at the top of the hill.

Six hillbillies,  three Amish (?) gentlemen, 2 chainsaws, a backhoe    ( NOT to be confused with my lovely drag friend Maxine, who is fondly referred to as  a black ho), and several hours later, they were able to accomplish this crazy chore!

The new folks seem to be profoundly grateful for the assistance from strangers that helped in getting their home settled. That's just the way it is on the hill.

That's just the way it is!

I believe that seeing the end of this day quickly approaching is a true blessing............ I believe that it's time to call it a night and turn in. I can see that  "PIG" already has a nice warm spot and is settled in, now to go move him out of my bed!

I have hope for  a better tomorrow, and can't wait to see what the day brings. 

till next time....

j

I think it's gonna rain......

After a week of serious storms for us in Origanna Woods, I am anxiously looking forward to the sunshine that our local           weather-persons are promising.

We do love the sound of the rain, as it is  gently landing on our metal roof and also enjoy the comforting, cozy evenings around the fires. Unfortunately,  as we entered  what felt like the 5th consecutive day of  rain and thunder-boomers , I felt our sanity may be coming  into question. 

Not to mention the lighting strikes, that I was certain were lighting up the dark less than 5 feet away.

It was indeed a wet, soggy, Easter Weekend.

We decided to spend our Easter quietly, and enjoyed a delicious pork roast with veggies. For dessert, we ate the cake that  our friends, Charlotte and Lois had made.  I hope to return the favor by doing a little bit of work on these nice ladies houses. I can't wait for Brandon to be here in the woods with Mark and I. He will be able to help do some work with me and make life a little easier for both of them. One has a pigeon problem that we need to tackle. I hope he's not as scared of pigeons as he is of snakes!

The rest of our Easter was spent lounging around the old boob tube.

Nothing exciting by most people's standards but it was a very enjoyable day.

Plans for the  week include a bit of work at Gracie's Market and also a bit of work at ABUNDANT ACRES. 

I will try to find a little  more time  to accomplish the mountain of projects around this house as well, just as soon as we dry out!

It's less than a week now before the roofing material is delivered and we can complete the kitchen roof. I am totally stoked about this project and wish it were already finished!

Once the outer roof is complete we will be able to make the kitchen  exactly the way we want it. No more shifting things around all the time. Nothing is  worse than an unorganized kitchen! Nothing.

 Miracle of Miracles, the sun is starting to shine for us.  Let the drying begin.

Til next time...

This Mother's Love............... for my Mother Becky. Happy Birthday!

I realized this evening when I got home from working the plants, that today was my dear, sweet, loving (step) Mother's Birthday.

And I forgot to call.

I am certain that there is indeed, a special kind of   hell for a son that does not remember to call his Mama on her Birthday.

I do, however understand, no mere words can undo my mistake. But, me being me, is going to try....

Mom, 

I love you. 

Happy Birthday.

This Mother's Love

This Mother's Love

was as strong as our first

This Mother's Love

showed more when we were

at our worst

This Mother's Love

is as sure and as bright as the Sun

This Mother's Love

nurtured us as few could have

done

This Mother's Love

it flows from her heart

This Mother's Love

we all miss when we are apart

This Mother's Love 

has held onto us all tight

This Mother's Love 

was there in our darkest of nights

This Mother's Love 

is not

'STEP'

it is not indeed

This Mother's Love

is the love of our MOTHER 

that's all it could be.

HOLY TOMATO PLANTMAN!

Another beautiful week has come and gone for us here in Origanna Woods.
We had one night of chill, but a fire quickly warmed us up.
 Every day for us is consumed by chores and trying to complete little projects. Of which there are many. Get the garden going, get the roof done, finish the drywall, run the wiring, finish the bathroom, the deck, on and on and on.......
Pick one and start there. So we did.   We did manage to finish the steps outside of the bathroom this week, which makes the duty of bathroom cleaning a bit easier. The first step out the door is no longer a giant leap, especially nice when carrying a full bucket of ka-ka out for a bleaching.  Another small job was de-cluttering the bathroom area. It had become the most convenient room to store the tools, drywall, dirty clothes and whatever else found its way there.Not that theirs anything wrong with have a circular saw  or 15 sheets of drywall near the toilet, but it does get annoying because it just makes you think of everything that needs to be finished.
Now that we are into the warmer, yet rainy weather, we've opened up the back rooms we built and roofed last year. These two unfinished rooms are perfect work/storage spaces. This also makes another project, building shelves for the organization of everything.
Next up will be to rework the former bathroom/bedroom/junk room into a real bathroom space.
I do believe that 5 bedrooms is as good as 6.
I mean REALLY??
It's not like we are planning on adopting a 3rd world family or anything. Besides, what would the neighbors think???
Once we've removed the former bed platform it gives us more than enough room to put in a walk in shower.
In keeping with our water conservation plans, the bathroom floor will have a trench style drain which will lead to our gray water reservoir  system. More water saved to use on our garden.
While on the subject of gardening, I've been chatting with one of Origanna neighbors that lives on Sunflower Lane, just up the opposite road from us. You know, 'OVER YONDER"
After hearing her talk of how much work she had to do get plants finished, I volunteered to help if I could. She called a couple days ago asking if the offer to assist was still on the table, I said of course.
What I didn't know was that they had a working farm. Or that I was going to be paid for my time.  Nice.
Pam and Randel have an internet business of selling heirloom herbs and vegetables. I ended up helping  replant several hundred tomato plants. As well as several varieties of peppers. The sweet ones  and some that are rated as the hottest variety available.
Beautiful Basil, that I would have planted all day because it smelled so great!
 I even transplanted several tobacco plants.
After 8 hours of replanting, and playing in the dirt,  my back was letting me know I was finished for the day, but I also said yes when  asked if I could come back the next day. After all, I did really enjoy it!
It is obviously the  busiest time of the year for this small family owned farm. It's a beautiful spot of ground and no chemicals are used on the products. There are  a few sheep,several porch sittin' country dogs, and a few  cats running around. It's just right!
If you are looking for the best quality of veggies and also wanting to help out a local family PLEASE go to this site and order away. He DOES ship your order to you.
http://www.abundantacres.net/

This couple works hard and I would love to see them do more business. So please check into it for me. And for yourselves. I promise you will find things here you won't find elsewhere.



In other news.........

Our rooster is still getting plenty of chicken nookie. I don't want to tell him that we are gonna be slaughtering  his chicken bitches this week. I'm sure he'll figure it out . This may be the first one on the butcher block.........

Mark has a fan club that follows him every time he goes outside.
This hen  was sneaky, and followed him inside at dusk,.She perched in this spot for what she thought  was the night, but found herself in the coop real fast!
For the butchering, Mark and I have a 6 foot ceramic sink counter that we are mounting outside so that we have a clean space to take on this chore.  Sounds much better than chicken blood spray on the walls inside, looking all CSI and such.  Like something out of  a  Patricia Cornwell story.   I can't wait to see how Rebel reacts to this. Better yet, to see  how I handle it.
You do realize that I'm going to terrorize Mark with some part of these chickens, don't you?
 He may wish he had a turbo boost on that wheelchair by the time I'm finished.
It's not like we are  gonna be the first persons  ever  to kill a chicken,but............... ewwwwwwwww.
The worst part is gonna be the leftovers. What to do with them?
I'm thinking designer chicken foot belt buckles or ear rings. But we will see.  :)
If I leave the tendons and mount it on a rod, then Mark could have a hand made hillbilly grabber for when he drops the remote control to the television . Or, when he has an itch he just can't reach.  Maybe some gold beak bookends. I do believe the possibilities are endless!
We won't tell him about it.
He does love a good surprise.

I've recently discovered that our dog Rebel may suffer from OCD of some sort.

He has a REAL problem with sticks that float in water. It doesn't matter is this stick is small and in a mud puddle or of this stick is 6 foot long and in the middle of our neighbors pond. They do NOT belong there, and it is his duty to remove them. At all cost.
I had walked to our neighbors  pond to check on the ducks that I had seen swimming there in the morning. Sitting peacefully on the bank watching them swim and do their beautiful duck stuff, it was nice. I saw Rebel  nosing around the edge pulling out branches that I suppose he just didn't care for. He spotted the tip of a branch floating about 5 feet out and decided it was worth the swim to investigate the situation. After a good five minutes of struggling to bring the branch/log ashore, he was obviously having a hard go at it, and running out of steam.  With the branch in tow and not  considering  the idea of releasing it, his little legs were giving out and his head went under, he bounced up quick and had a look of what I would call panic in his eyes. I knew he was not going to surrender to some stupid  stick and that I would have to reach in a grab him and his new best toy. What I didn't know was that my second step in the water was going to send me nipple deep in cold water. Stupid dog. Stupid stick.      Wet me.
Covered in pond scum and only cussing slightly, I was rewarded with an abundance of puppy kisses. Wet and stinky as they were, it was worth it.
As you can see in the picture above he is not your average dog.  I have to take my pillows off the bed every morning and leave him his. I know better than to make the bed before it's time, otherwise I would be making it several times a day. When he feels me stirring, he gives a big yawn and stares at me letting me know I can move my ass out of his way.  
Don't expect him to be out of bed before 10 A.M. either, that is, unless you jingle the work keys or the heavenly  sound of  delicious kibble being poured in his dish reaches his ears.
 Time to be productive and check off another project.

That's it from me for now.
May your worries be few and your blessings be many....

I can't believe that it is so difficult to keep up a blog on a regular basis. It seems like the warmer it gets, the faster the day is over. By the time I've done the daily chores and wasted time at http://www.stumbleupon.com/ looking for creative ideas on homesteading, it is already time to cook dinner, feed the dogs, chickens and sugar glider, then finally ourselves.

Mark and I are usually on the couch watching THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE before the 6:30 starting time.

He is graceful everytime I kick his behind at it! Take for example the night this was the puzzle I solved with one letter....... living thing............................. _.... _ _ _ _ _ _...... _ _ ....._ _ _ S _.

Any clue what it is yet?

Maybe I will let you think about it for a minute and tell you later!



The plans that Mark and I have for this next week is to have the rest of the material delivered for the roof over the kitchen. Our hope is that this is the LAST of the roofing that we will have to do for a while.

Not that being up on rafters is a bad thing, holding on with your big toe and a pinkie, praying that your junk doesn't slip to the other side of the beam throwing you off balance and sending you to your death below.

I'm not a big fan of heights (that doesn't involve a harness of some sort ) and tend to shake more than a big girls ass in spandex.

Pretty, I know.

I would still love to go skydiving at some time, but, just don't ask me to climb that ladder! Go figure that one out!

Once we've finished the new roof over the kitchen our next goal is to finish the bathroom and possibly do a bit of decking between the house and the library. Which in turn would serve two purposes, one, Mark would have a nice level area right outside the door of the dining room and would also gain access to the library. Unfortunatly, the 'library' is now a second shed and needs to be cleaned out and organized before being wired and insulated and finished. Good news is that there is no roofing involved!

The bathroom is going to be made out of the middle room off of the dining room. The room had started as one of the first bedrooms, but as the house grew our plans changed accordingly.

This does make more sense, seeing as how it is centrally located. The whole room will be tiled and open with a drain trench in the floor. By catching the grey water, we can use it to water the garden and for use cleaning our tools and such outside. W are designing it with Mark in mind, so this involves a bench seat on the back wall of the shower and a solid hand grip for accessibility.

Our hope is that by the time Fall rolls around we will have many of our little projects finished and be a lot more comfortable come winter. Without spending a small fortune running the furnace.

Hopefully we will be able to get duct work in place under the house and have an outdoor furnace in place by November. Keep your fingers crossed.

So many projects, so little time!!!!



In other news, our friends from Kansas are hitting the homestead trail and moving to Origanna Woods in as soon as 2 weeks. We are looking forward to their arrival, and to finally meeting in person.

Their family will be close to GRACIES MARKET so I hope to see them often.



Our good friend Brandon is also hitting the hillbilly trail ,and is expected to arrive in mid-May.

He is a great source of motivation so I know he will be happy to jump in and get to work. Hmmm......... roofing may wait til he arrives!



Now back to the one letter puzzle above, did you figure it out? A GAGGLE OF GEESE.



Later!