Meltdown

The heat is rising ... and I have not been tolerating it very well at all. I was actually taken to the ER one night ... presented with extreme high blood pressure & a few other signs of a heart attack. After tests and x-rays & an EKG it was determined that what ever was going on, was not a heart attack. It seems like it's just the heat & how I react right now .... not a good thing!!! We've lived in the cabin for over a month now & still no solar power system connected. As of this morning we have a generator, an A/C & a box fan ... all thanks to an *angel* named Ed. If you think of it, please pray that God blesses him.

As of our last rain storm, we officially fixed the leaks in the roof .... we'd thought we'd already done it but then sprung the leak again a couple rainstorms ago. Any way, insulation & moisture barrier goes up this coming week.  We'll be doing some wiring & plumbing at the same time too. One project at a time ... slow .. some times too slow but at least things are moving. The compost bins are built now ... YAYYYY!!! Another thing we'll be buying this week is a couple burn barrels.

Now that we have a generator I can charge my camera batteries & start using it again. Be expecting tons of photos soon!!!

You live life your way, we'll live our way

Why is it that when some one lives differently than the crowd, they are automatically wrong? The only people that have an issue with living off grid are those NOT living off grid LOL Ok ... so it's a lot of work. If you don't want to do the work, then don't live off grid LOL but who are you to tell any one they can't???

That being said, our family is loving life! We are gathering soda bottles to construct a greenhouse out of recycled items. We'll try to be creative and design a picture with the different colored bottles. How kool would that be?!

Building is stalled still ... but there are other things we can do ... and we are!

I decided to post a song I've come to like. It speaks my mind as far as the first part of this post. We may not chew or smoke or eat fried foods ... but leave us alone. If you don't like the way we live, so be it .. we're not askin you to live it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLvziNM2eyE

Way Out Here by Josh Thompson

Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun
And you might meet 'em both if you show up here not welcome son
Our necks are burnt, our roads are dirt and our trucks ain't clean
The dogs run lose, we smoke, we chew and fry everything
Out here, way out here

(Chorus)
We won't take a dime if we ain't earned it
When it comes to weight brother we pull our own
If it's our backwoods way of livin' you're concerned with
You can leave us alone
We're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere
Way out here

We got a fightin' side a mile wide but we pray for peace
'Cause it's mostly us that end up servin' overseas
If it was up to me I'd love to see this country run
Like it used to be, oughta be, just like it's done
Out here, way out here

(Chorus)
We won't take a dime if we ain't earned it
When it comes to weight brother we pull our own
If it's our backwoods way of livin' you're concerned with
You can leave us alone
We're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere
Way out here

We won't take a dime if we ain't earned it
When it comes to weight brother we pull our own
If it's our backwoods way of livin' you're concerned with
You can leave us alone
We're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere
Way out here, way out here

Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun
And you might meet 'em both if you show up here not welcome son

Building our dreams

Having to go to town 5 days a week sure does slow the construction process a lot .... and it gets old really quick. I think the biggest problem I have with not staying on our mountain when my hubby is at work would be that we have no schedule or routine what so ever. I know it's taking it's toll on my children too .... they seem to get crabby easier and earlier & they have more times where they are arguing & not getting along. Now, they've always had their arguing moments ... but I don't remember them being so often. I know once we are home more & hooked in to a routine, that will stop.

 

We have a map of our property now ... hopefully it's what the timber crew needs. They said they'd come out right away, once we had the map of the boundaries. Once we get the timber cut & out of our way, we'll be able to get more done on the mountain. We're only having 4 or 5 acres cut down ... that way we have room for animal pens, a barn, an addition to the cabin & we'll have trees left to hide the property and use for fire wood (for my wood cook stove). We're not sure if they'll grind the stumps they leave behind ... that would be great but we won't count on it. One thing we know for sure though .... we'll be grabbing as much sawdust as we can, from their daily cuttings!!! I wonder how long it will take for them to clear the trees out.

 

The 16 x 24 room we have right now will be the kitchen, small bathroom & living room. There is a really good size loft over the front door. Right now it's our 18 year old son's room. When he moves out (which he keeps talking about doing), it will either be a bed room to the next oldest or we'll turn it in to storage or an office. There is a window that needs to be changed. It's a beautiful big window .... but ... it's too big & too low to the ground. It will get in the way of our counters & cabinets.

 

We have 3 chickens left and 2 roosters ... our 3 year old son has decided that it's his job to feed & water them. I love that he's so willing to work the "farm!" He does a great job watering & feeding them too. He's not even afraid when they flap their wings while running toward him. He always has a sibling with him ... but really, he does the chore by himself most of the time. He really likes it that way LOL (we are blessed in that all our children like the farm chores).

 

I had a dream the other night that we won the lottery & bought every one off our mountain. We paid them well over what their property was worth too. Once every one moved off the mountain, my best friend & her family moved on to the mountain. She really is moving out here ..... I'd love for them to be on the same mountain!!! Really though, I'm just thrilled she's comin out!!!

 

 

Keep rockin,
Retta

 

http://www.rettarizzo.com
http://www.makersacres.com/blo

Blood, sweat & tears

I always knew what that meant ... "blood, sweat & tears" ... but I believe I have a deeper understanding now.

 

Blood has been shed on our homestead ... only a few drops (so far). It sure hurts when the hammer misses the nail!!! My 18 year old son & 10 year old son made the first of three compost bins. The oldest was concerned because it didn't look nice. I'm not looking to be on the front cover of "Better Homes & Gardens" though. I don't care if it looks nice ... I just want it to function as it should ... and it doe! Great job, boys!!! It was made out of pallets. Pallets are free but some of them are hard to work with. None-the-less, they are a blessing. Our chickens are housed with the, compost bins are made with them, & some of our other projects will be made with them too.  Hopefully they'll be no more blood shed!

 

Farm chores get done first thing in the morning ... before the temperature rises! I know that old time farmers got up mighty early ... most say it was to use all the day light hours, but I wonder if the temperatures have anything to do with that too. It gets hot in these parts ... working through the day sure makes one sweaty!!! Sweat isn't a bad thing though .... it's a reward, really ... for hard work. We haven't done a lot here yet but our day is coming. Due to not having a way to contact help in case of emergencies, our kids feel safer going in to town on the days that my husband works ... so ... we go. It's a hassle & I'm over it. I think that the most frustrating part is that when staying in town ALL DAY, we have no structure, no routine ... it's sure showing on my children too.  I've noticed they argue more often & are crabby during the day. I tend to feel lost with no routine ... I look forward to getting our land line & a second vehicle. Hopefully those two things happen quickly. I have our schedule planned for when it does LOL

 

We lost a family pet this week. We were given a purebred MinPin 5 years ago. He'd become one of the family immediately. BearBear was supposed to be mine but he took a liking to my 16 year old daughter. His original name was Pharaoh but some how he became "BearBear." When our youngest was a baby, he became good friends with BearBear ... that lovable dog would let the baby use him as a pillow. The past week, we'd noticed he'd started acting like a playful pup again. He had some "pep in his step" again. He was 10 years old & though I don't know what his first 5 years of life were like, I know he had a great second half of his life. We came home from an already rough day to find BearBear had died. My 16 year old is broken hearted & many tears have been shed. We will miss our beloved BearBear!!!

 

Until next time ~

Plans

So, here we are .... on our homestead ... living our dreams. We are loving EVERY minute of it!!! Is it easy? LOL ... um ... not even close. Is it worth it? By far ... YES!!! Our first project was the chicken "coop" LOL ... more like a hut. Now our goal is to clear the property by selling off some of our timber. By doing that, we get the land cleared for free ... and make money to go toward paying for tools & such. We're not going to sell it all though ... just in the areas we want cleared. We've got pallets for the compost bins but until the land is cleared, there's really no where to put them.

 

Immediate Needs:

 

Insulation

Wall Panels

Generator

Window A/C

Rain gutters for roof

Barrels for water catchment

2 liter soda bottles

 

Every day is a lesson, that we're really enjoying learning! Our goal is to be as self sufficient as possible while being TOTALLY God reliant!!! We've never been more dependant on God ... and how KOOL that He is showing Himself to us in very real ways!!! God is good! We've met wonderful people, who have welcomed us whole heartily ... we have been blessed by many ... both friends & strangers, though I don't think there's such a thing as strangers in this part of the world.

1st cooked meal on homestead ... "Cowboy" breakfast ... farm fresh scrambled eggs with beans

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Chicken need shelter too

Temporary housing

We were blessed with 6 chickens & 2 roosters. We were expecting them on Saturday but due to weather reports, we got them on Friday. A friend drove an hour & a half to our house to bring them to us. Kathy also brought us a couch with a hide-a-bed & 4 or so eggs. YUM!!!

My children woke up this morning & were so excited that they would get to do "farm chores" today ... they happily went out to feed & water the chickens. They were thrilled to find 4 eggs ... part of tomorrow's breakfast!

We are on our property ... way up a mountain & way out in the sticks. We couldn't be happier!!! We are really "roughin" it. We have no electric but will do our solar power system soon. We have a solar shower & a compost toilet. Pretty soon we'll have the water tanks, to truck in our own water. I can't wait for that!!!

One thing I am finding hard to do since our move ... is getting back to our routine. I mean ... I know our routine is changing but I just can't find our schedule in our day & it can tend to drive me crazy with out it LOL

Most days we're in bed by dark & up by the crack of dawn. Those are my favorite days!!!

I'm posting pictures little by little ... I'll post more as soon as we find the battery charger LOL