Life in the Whacked Lane....The squatting era

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Homestead Heartbeats : One Thread

I sure hope this stays connected for a tic!

We have a set up here right next to my parents home with the goats outside the trailer in hoop houses. I'm concerned about them being able to winter through here alright. I still need to get a bunch more hay in and we had a freeze last night!

it is beautiful here. Crisp and clear and simply soul nourishing as far as the outdoors goes.

The kids are doing really well in school after a rather rough beginning. I have decided to send a weekly progress report with Jared and Sophie both, and they are both doing quite well now. Yeah!!! keeping them accountable seems to be almost a full time job in and of itself. But it is working out well and I do believe it will greatly benefit them in their futures.

We are getting slammed on the financial front. Marcy sold her property but is only giving me a bit more than half of what I expected....Guess we will have no choice but to winter through here and pray it goes alright.

I am REALLY enjoying being around my Mom. We have made several batches of wild grape jelly and tried a persimmon pie and I am just sooo thankful to spend time with her as an adult. She is sincerely the best person I know. What a blessing to have such a great Mom!!!

I better get....just wanted to make some kind of contact. God bless all of you!

-- Anonymous, October 27, 2003

Answers

How quickly plans change around here!

We are on a serious quest for a repo mobile and the well is going to be pumped up the hill to the proper location, but it will take some doing. The estimate is 'possibly as high as 2k." I feel alright about that.

I found out last Thursday that I am pregnant...So prayers are very coveted. I'm trying really hard to not be the super type a multi task freak that I am naturally. Taking all the right supplements and finding the calm spots in this mind of mine. I feel pretty good physically. A little queasy from time to time.

We are going to have to borrow some money from David's Dad to get the things done that we need to get done. I don't like it, but it's just the way it is. He will take a lien on the Texas property and then when it sells he'll be paid back in full with some interest. He is really good man, and I like him a whole lot. Thankfully he likes me a whole lot too.:)

I have to go off and look at mobiles in Springfield, so I'll let you all know more when I know more. God bless!!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2003


I'm sick as a dog today. Some kind of stomach disruption....ugh. We are trying to get all these things together to get on our property, but it seems like it's going to take longer. Oh well. As long as we stay on top of things it will happen when it's right.

Hope all of you are well!

-- Anonymous, November 11, 2003


Sometimes I think I am simply not cut out to parent these kids at all. Jared is driving me bonkers. He takes f o r e v e r to just put his shoes on. He always said he wants to be a soldier and that he will be the best soldier ever, but when he is confronted with the fact that soldiers only have about 5 minutes to get up, dressed, make their bed and out the door he always says---"but I'm not in the Army." If he were more verbally capable I would believe he might make a good lawyer someday.

He is still failing the sixth grade because he doesn't turn in his work. We went to his school and Sophie's school on Friday to talk with Sophie's teacher regarding an evolution paper, and Jared's school counselor to see if he might have something actually wrong with his ability to learn because of his reading. It didn't go all that well.

Sophie's teacher, who is a self proclaimed born again Christian claims that God may very well have used evolution to get us to where we are and that 'no one can know' how old the earth might acutally be...she really bristled when we tried to appeal 'either the Bible is true, or it isn't". Oh well. We let it go with simply sending Sophie to the media center for reading if they do the 'millions and millions of years ago' thing in her class.

Jared's school counselor is completely new agey. She gave me the screaming whimmies. We did determine that he doesn't have a disability, just refusal to do what he needs to do. I personally believe it is directly linked to whether he likes the teacher or not. Anyway, when we spoke with him on Friday evening he said that his troubles are because he misses his Mom and his half sisters......I have no doubt that he does miss them, but I can't understand why he had the same problem when he saw them regularly if it is really the problem. I so wish that I could crawl inside his brain to get what it is he is thinking and how he is really feeling. He has seemed pretty happy lately, but we cannot seem to get this school thing together at all.

When we get settled on out property we'll start homeschooling, but I am afraid he will do the same thing there. Sophie really wants to homeschool....and she is now doing fabulously in public school as well.She got to spend the night at a friend's house on Friday and she had a great time, but when she came home she was acting pretty snotty. I guess it is simply to be expected.

The mobile will be moved to the property on Friday, then the guy will start on the barn about the 25th. The water is getting started this morning and it should be finished by the end of the week. I think it will take about three weeks to get the house all ready and to get the propane and telephone hook up done.

I'm thinking it will be really nice to have us all under one roof. I think it will help the kids and that in turn will help us.

Deer hunting started in earnest this weekend. My brother and his son Tom each got a buck. I went out four times but didn't see anything except for lots of sign. David and the kids all like venison a lot so if I see one, I will try to get it. Ugh. Oh well. There are way too many of them to have a healthy population, so it needs to be done.

I need to get on my jobs here. I hope I can get on line the rest of this week without troubles! God bless all of you!

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2003


Well, it keeps on deciding not to do what the weather prognosticators think it will out there. It's kind of amusing. We took the awning down because they said it would have winds up to 80mph and lots of tornadic activity. HA! it just rained and because the awning is so poorly made it didn't roll up right and poured water right in front of the door. :)

I need to get over to the property today and get some cattle panels for the fence line in place. We got the pads for levelling yesterday.

Got an offer on the place in Texas! It was the number we wanted, but the guy wants us to pay for the survey. I paid $980 for one when I bought it in 96, so I don't think so.

You all take care!!!

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2003


We finally got the mobile moved onto the property. WOW! Was that crazy!!! The guys moving it believed the pilot car fello that a small concrete bridge was only 96" when it was actually 12'. BIG difference, there. Anyway, they tried to get us to pay an extra 2k and also waive our insurance. We ended up paying an extra $1150, but not waiving the insurance and -voila`- it is sitting where we want it. Whew.

We have a lot to do on it before we can get in, but the water lines are being dug as I write this and the electric will be in by the end of the week, so much is happening.

Yesterday was our 1st anniversary. We tried to go out to a nice restaurant, but neither of them were open, so we went to an okay place and had an okay meal and just enjoyed each other's company for a change.:). We get along really well for the most part. I'm thankful that we don't really fight, but only spar. David's a pretty good man, and I love him and am grateful for him. I think he makes me a better person because all of the things that come along with an instant family of this nature are a serious exercise in faith. I've certainly garnered a lot more patience in year!

I'm really tired a lot right now. And HUNGRY. I hope I don't turn into a blimp. It seems like I either want to sleep or eat and feels as if I don't do enough of either. The queasiness seems to make me want to eat.

I'll post this and go catch up with all of you! God bless!

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2003



The people who put in the offer are awaiting word on their financing. We are praying that it goes through.

The barn is going to be started on tomorrow, and the septic should be complete by the end of today. We don't know whether we will have to get the new pump for the well or not as of yet. I suspect that we will need it because it is one heck of a long way to push water, so bigger should be better.

David and Jared went and worked on the house yesterday while I did a ton of laundry and Sophie and I cleaned. They did get some important stuff done, so now we can begin on the cosmetic and clean side of the venture.

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of this folk medicine method of telling what kind of baby you are supposed to have or not, but it's strange. You put a needle with a threaded string into the top of a pencil and hold it over your abdomen and a circle means a girl, a line means a boy. Well.......It did one of each for me!

gulp.

Then they checked it on my Mom and SIL and it was accurate for each of them including the first one that SIL lost in the sixth month. I have no idea why it would work at all. The only thing I can surmise is perhaps magnetics. It seems rather odd. Obviously, the needle and string are NOT God Almighty, but there are so many strange things with our bodies that I sure can't figure it out.

So isn't that a kicker? Or two?

I'm going to go in for all the blood work and an early ultrasound on December 11th. If it is indeed twins, it helps explain why I have to constantly pee at night and why I am soooooo tired, and why I am already showing.It also takes home birthing straight out of the picture as way too many complications can occur.

I really appreciate your continued prayers for us. I'm one week past the time I miscarried in January and I am fearful of doing that again. I do not want to go through that again...

Anyway, it's a beautiful but windy day and I have a lot to do. Just wanted to say Howdy to all of you!!!

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2003


Well the guy still hasn't started on the barn. We are thinking about just going with someone else.

The man working on the water has gotten the septic in and buried. We still need to get this one huge stump taken out with this backhoe though....also finishing the delivery water lines is paramount.

We got all the acoustic junk scraped off the celings, now to clean up and paint those and fix the floor, then reinsulate the bottom of the trailer and skirt and I guess we will be in business. Whew.

I've decided not to breed my goats. I think I'll be too stressed out at birthing time at about 8mos along if I do. Some of mine are CAE+ so I must snatch the kids and hand raise them which requires being there RIGHT at birth regardless of the time. David and I were talking about perhaps breeding them so they kid when the baby(ies) will be 2 mos old. That sounds a bit more doable to me.

Well, that's it for now! God bless all of you and thank you for your prayers...A LOT.:)

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2003


Lately I have been having trouble in my spirit about Angela.....I have somehow lost the Christ like part of me which actually wants to pray for her and wish her good... It’s bugging me. I’m trying to think of when this began, and I think it actually started after she wrote David these emails telling him how they are supposed to be together and no matter what he does, she will always love him, etc. etc. But I had no actual conscious feeling of any kind of jealousy, and I examined it pretty thouroughly. It’s not that I wish her ill, I just wish her completely gone....and that isn’t anything but a selfish desire. God is dealing with me on it. This is different for me. And difficult.

In the past, whenever I have come across someone who really is my ‘enemy’, I have been able to simply avoid communication and maintain a healthy distance that allowed me the spiritual space to feel genuine concern for their being. With the kids being the conduit, I cannot do that with Angela.

The troubles I have also are causing me to re-examine everything. I was so comforted when in June, the Lord literally spoke to me and told me, “I’ll take care of it.” Only three times have I specifically heard Him audibly speak to me. Every time has been an immense blessing, increasing my faith and my certainty of His hand on my life and my relationship with Him. I feel that when we got a lawyer and went through the completely corrupt system that we affronted God Almighty. But David doesn’t agree with me. Neither does my father, or our old pastor....I could be wrong.:)

At any rate, I am trying to figure out what to pray for her. When I prayed about her, I asked God to show me in the Word what my spirit needed and He gave me Psalm 37. A real comfort in my situation. I guess what I will do is simply pray that His will be done in her and in her life. I can say that and mean it. Any thoughts or words you may have for me on this would be really appreciated......

On other fronts, I went to the doctor yesterday and was there forever without getting much done in reality. They took my blood and a very expensive urine test to tell me I am indeed pregnant. Duh. it cost $265 to get that done. Ugh. I have another appointment next week where they will do a pap smear, and perhaps a quickie ultrasound to see if there are indeed two babies. I have already gained 14 pounds!!!!! Eeegad. There better be two! I seem to not be quite as tired as I was, thankfully. I am at 11 weeks and two days according the interesting mathmatical calculations of gestation. Due date is June 30.

It’s been cold here. We’ll work on the trailer again this weekend. Hopefully getting the floor fixed, and then moving on to painting what must be painted. They are supposed to get propane in this next week which should help everything be much more comfortable as we work. We have the repairs, then the painting and flooring and skirting. Then we have to get the rest of the stuff from Texas and move on in.

Well I really must get. I have to do the goats yet. That brings me to antoher thing. We have decided not to breed the girls so I won’t be trying to snatch and bottle feed babies when I’m 7 or 8 moths pregnant. What we’ll do for milk remains to be seen.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2003


We're going to Texas...maybe closing, maybe not. But we will get the rest of our stuff out of there either way.

We had Christmas here and it was pretty nice. It took to long from breakfast to a very late lunch or early supper tho' and I simply had to eat some crackers and such so I couldn't eat much of the 'feast' food. Oh well. It was delicious and enjoyable at any rate!

The kids are clamoring for snow, but it doeswn't look like we will have any any time real soon.

My niece's husband beat her up the other day....this is the second time, so Joe is going to go and pick her up on Saturday. Jonny (the beating husband) is supposed to be a Christian, so he'll be addressed on purely biblical principals. Joe is going to insist that they seperate for 6 months (Joe would prefer a year) and he get counseling and give the counselor's number to Joe and his wife. It's a rough situation, but Joe is doing an excellent job keeping his anger in check and focusing on being an example. David and I may go along as diffusers. I really like Jonny-just not this aspect of him. This kind of thing makes me so angry that is difficult to remain right myself, but doable.

God bless everyone! Be safe and I'll write more when we get back!

-- Anonymous, December 26, 2003


Moderation questions? read the FAQ