On the Soapbox Again

This may be a two-post Sunday... or Saturday, as it may be.  It's 11:0l PM CST, and I am still sitting here reading and catching up on blogs I have been following. 

First off... I want to thank all our fellow bloggers out there.  I am a homesteader... not in the '70's sense... but in the 21st century sense... we are trying to raise our own vegetables as much as possible, to supply those less fortunate (some family, some our local food kitchen) with vegetables, and keep ourselves in eggs and soon, in chicken, in a serious way.  We live very simply, and we have not had a vacation off this place in several years. (However, we're planning one!  Careful coordination for animal care is required!)

I digress as usual.

Back to "homesteading".... I am so appreciative of the wonderful information that my fellow bloggers are putting out there!  Whether it is just a picture of some project that you have going on, or detailed instructions, they have served as inspiration beyond belief for us.  I have so many good ideas for our new chicken house that I don't know where to even start. (Thank you Paula at Fraker Farm)  Gardening ideas... I get them daily.  I used to look at "house" blogs and "decorating" blogs, but the fact is, I live in a tiny country house with soiled carpets (pugs) and leaky windows.  We have been here seven years now and still don't have drapes in the bedroom.  There is a piece of plywood on our bedroom ceiling.  We spend too much on the outside and not enough on the inside, but WE ARE HAPPY HERE and that's all that matters.  Yes, we get tired and grumpy, and sometimes Keith has to escape to the golf course and I to the antique stores, but for the most part, we can't wait to get home daily and hate to leave.  It's a wonderful gift from God that I found a man in my "old age" (I was 46 when we met) that learned to like the things I did, and is happy here.  And a man who suggested I retire at 62... when I thought I would be working forever after working two jobs for 30 years!  Nirvana!

Having said all this.... Usually, Friday and Saturday nights are my only two nights to sit and catch up on blogs.  Yes, I'm addicted to some TV programs... I grew up in a tv family (unlike Keith, who does not consider watching endless sports to be "watching tv") .... and I love to nestle amongst the pugs and watch my shows.  This will shortly come to an end, the season is ending, and we will be spending mucho time in the yard (on the John Deere!).  People... I beg you... TURN OFF WORD VERIFICATION!!!!  When I sit here for three or four hours, I double my effort by having to type and retype the nonsense words.  It is very wearing.  I bet I have done it 40 times tonight all ready, and the fact is, in almost three years of blogging, I have yet to have even one piece of spam.  Someone said to me this week (a blogger who has closed her blog) that she was afraid of people in other countries reading her blog.  This, to me, is the wonder of the web.... I have traveled to other countries VIA people's blogs.  I love to see the sights in Scotland, England,

France and Australia, and I gladly enjoy seeing how folks live in other countries, which really, is so like we do.  I admit it worried me when I posted pictures of my little grands and googled it next day to find the little girl coming up... but the solution for that is to simply NOT write about them  again.  In the same three years, I have only had one comment that was in the least weird, and when I followed it back, it was to a site, a personal blog, of someone struggling with mental issues, and not a threat of any kind.  If my eyesight - and back - were better, it would not be an issue, but typing the nonsensical "words" is very wearing. 

For those of you posting recipes... thanks... as we are trying to eat fresher and healthier.  I love finding things we can adapt to the way we are trying to eat now.  It is so different from the meat and potatoes way we have been (of course, we had steak and potatoes tonight, but that is a treat now).  I love to cook and bake, and I am getting quite the library of recipes from blogs. 

People with Goats and Sheep:  I thank you!  I am trying to learn about your animals.  No, we are not getting sheep, but they are so interesting.  One week I am Pro-goat, and the next, Maybe-Not-So-Pro.  Tomorrow I am buying goat milk from Roxanne at Screamin' Oak's Farm down the road, to try my first ricotta cheese.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Her daughter Justyne has the most beautiful dairy in Tennessee, so go there to Noble Spring Dairy (google) to see it. 

Several nights this week Keith and I have marveled at the way lives have changed in the last 20 years.  My mother, God bless her, did not understand before she died in 2008.  She would never have understood our blog, or even what it was.  Ten years ago, we would not have.  Now, I enjoy writing daily... and reading about all the wonderful things that people are doing across this nation and world.  I have laughed and cried at the adventures that many of you are having, and taken strength from your advice and consideration.  

Some blogs I follow have disappeared recently, and some have gone on hiatus.  Yes, it's hard to post frequently... some nights I am tired, and some nights I just have nothing to say.  I'm not funny like Suzanne McMinn at Chickens... and not a good photographer like so many of you.  For those of you who have decided to close down, I understand... and those on hiatus, I hope you come back stronger than ever when you are ready.  Do I follow the "famous" blogs... I like Pioneer Woman and am in awe of Rhea Drummond for the fact that she has become a Thing... and will now have her own show on Food Network... I can't get comfortable with Dooce....I hop in and out at Chickens in the Road now, because I think Suzanne has stretched herself thin.  I used to follow a lot of the decorating blogs but no longer do, some are very slow to load and I do not have the patience when blog-hopping.  I like simple things, with people who like to get their hands dirty and their minds engaged.  I love animals, and gardening, and reading and .... blogging. 

Homeschoolers... I salute you!

It's now 11:31, and I have been sitting here blog-hopping for 3 hours.  Keith is snoring in the bedroom (along with Abby and Gertie) after digging and pouring cement for the footings of the henhouse.  This week he will be away at a training course, and I will be guiding our fortunes here at the homeplace, but we will be together in spirit, and that's what it's all about. 

Do I want to quit sometime?  Sure.  I get sick of carrying water in the winter, slipping and sliding across the sloping yard.  I get tired of cutting grass and weed-eating and pulling weeds and getting chicken doo doo all over me and cleaning up after the dogs, etc. etc. etc.  We all do.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to be living back in town with just the dogs, and cutting a small yard again with a push mower, and fixing up a small old house to be our cute nest for our senior years, but the fact is... one step off the porch in the morning reminds us daily why we are here and why we love it. 

I hope the full moon is shining down all you all tonight... that your snow is melted, and the winds have stopped blowing, and your animals are safe and snug in their houses.  Thanks for all the inspiration and laughs, and I hope we have many more.

Calamity Acres farmhouse, when we first moved here... no deck, no cross-fencing.. just a house and beautiful land....

And we fell in love.