StarzAbove

Yes, I am currently one of the statistics. I am uninsured. He was laid off last year and was forced to take a job without insurance benefits. Insurance is expensive. Unfortunately, I am unable to see how the health care reforms that were passed are going to help me at all. It would be cheaper for me to pay the fines for NOT having insurance than to buy insurance. How does that help?

There are several great things in that bill – but there are more things that don’t make sense, don’t help or are just really bad things. It struck me as very sad that they kept touting the great achievements known as Social Security and Medicare – both on the verge of bankruptcy. I fear for the future of our great nation, I really do.

Enough of that – the whole thing gives me a headache. It was just fresh on my mind since we just watched the bill pass a few days ago, and also because of my experience at the doctor’s today when I went to restart my allergy shots. They get you coming, they get you going and OH the price they get you for is quite horrible.

We have chickie babies – Angel finally picked up a dozen Buff Orpington’s and I picked up my dozen Aracauna’s (Easter egg laying chickens). They are both beautiful birds, too. We also added a half dozen Cornish crosses – they grow to full-size, ready for the pot, in 8 weeks!

Wow! Where does time go?

I won’t even attempt to post all that’s passed under the bridge since my last post in OcToBeR of LaSt YeAr!? But I am posting that we are still here – alive and kicking, homesteading, working, playing, learning, etc.

We’ve added cows and more chicky-babies to our little farm, and we’ve lost our sweet horse, Cheyenne. Sister and her crew are headed back out and here is proof of that (and the fact that we’ve been BUSY!!).
From this:

to this:

in only about 2 weeks time (3 weekends and 1 week in between!).

We’ve added the outside walls, and the roof trusses are stacked on top ready to be setup, since these photos were taken (and downloaded).

So exciting!!!

And my next big, side project will be the garden and greenhouse.
Which leads me to this link:
http://www.heirloomseedswap.com/

It’s a brand new site, that I hope to promote and use. It’s been started by a couple of pod casters that I’ve been listening to, The Self-Sufficient Homestead

I planned to – until I discovered that somehow my web host has lost a massive amount of htaccess files from all of my hosting accounts. So that’s what I’m working on now – into the wee hours of the morning, most likely. Frustrating!!!

Tomorrow’s Goals:
Temporary Horse Pasture
Posts for Permanent Lower Horse Pasture
Plant some more in the garden
Possibly work for a few hours
Spin on my spinning wheel – even if just for a bit

My little brother phoned today. He called to inquire about allergy meds and then we chatted awhile – it was nice. I miss him. We all do.

Our neighbor bulldozed some land for us today – it will mostly be the building site for Dale’s parents, but part of it will become more pasture. It is kind of devastating to look at, but I have to keep reminding myself that it was all dead pine trees (attacked by pine beetles a couple of years ago and then ravaged by the ice storm this year) that really needed to be cleared anyhow, in order for the other trees to flourish and replenish that area.

In my foggy brain (still getting over illness) I forgot to mention that Mom’s cabin was moved up here last week. She’s now our neighbor along with sister. Pretty cool!

I also didn’t get a chance to post about Mama Cleopatra’s lamb. I was wrong – she only delivered a single – her ‘wide load’-ness was just from her poof of wool, since she is in full coat. Now that she’s lambed it’s time to call for the shearer to come out and give them all their yearly shaving. We’re late on that again, mostly because I selfishly want Cookie’s fleece to grow out to as near a full year as is feasible. Her lamb’s fleece is going to be LOVELY to spin up!!!

Well it appears I am down to the last couple of site’s to fix – thank Goodness!

I won’t even attempt a catch up entry – SO MUCH has gone on in the past 6 months that I would’ve loved to document and share here. I will attempt to run some back stories now and then in the near future, as I attempt to write more (I’m in the mood once again).

We’re living in our house, it’s still not complete – that’s fun. Sometimes. Almost every weekend this winter, once we made it past the Ice Storm of ’2009, there has been some sort of goal reached. Sometimes it was running water in the house, or the washing machine hooked up, and probably the most exciting – when our electricity was turned on for the first time! It’s been a lot of work, it’s been a lot of growing, but it’s all been good in the end. Well, I guess i shouldn’t say ‘end’ because we are really so very much still in the beginnings of our adventure.

The farm is shaping up. Added to the thrill of finally having the sheep living on the same land that we are, we have added 6 grown chickens,
25 baby chicks (or chicky-babies as I affectionately refer to them),

4 ducklings,

1 angora rabbit (the one we’ve had for several years but had been separated from us for quite some time) and 3 horses!

We still plan on adding a few cattle, some goats, maybe pigs, I’d like some turkeys, and probably more.

We’ve had our first babies on the farm! Surprise lambs – 2 of them, so far, but at least 1 more on the way as Mama C (Cleopatra) is wide as all get out. I’m predicting she’ll twin again as she did last year. We didn’t plan on them lambing this year, since the ram that we ‘had’ was merely 6 months old, but apparently he was quite the ladies man. Yin, one of our 2 year old ewes lambed first, about 3 weeks ago(4/5/2009). She bore a very lively black ewe lamb with a white streak down her forehead that resembles a skunk’s stripe. Her most popular name consideration so far is “Flower”, after the skunk in the story “Bambi.”

Then the next weekend Starlight (name still pending) who is one of Mama C’s twins from just a year ago lambed (4/11/2009). She had a very tiny pure black ram lamb that fusses a bit now and then but is also very lively and plays quite often with Flower.

I’m so glad I’ve finally succeeded in at least making an entry here. I’ve had so much to say, too, it’s such a shame.. Our internet setup has not worked well out here. We have satellite internet and it’s been very unreliable. It’s currently inoperative, as a matter of fact, so I’m ‘sharing’ with our nice neighbors (at least a quarter of a mile away – astounding that their signal reaches this far – I guess it’s all of the clear air out here). We had signal one day and we didn’t the next. I’ve dealt with tech support (a nightmare!) and even paid a tech to come out and try several things. We still aren’t getting enough signal (maxes at 29 if that means anything to anyone), so I’m beyond frustrated at this point. However, once it’s up and running, and reliable, I do plan on making my statements here more often.

It’s late, so I’m off to knit on a hat for a very dear friend’s mama. Now that is something else that’s been lacking – the knitting!

Just a quick update…

Here is one view of part of our forest this past November, BEFORE the tragic Ice Storm of ’2009:

and here it is a couple of days after the Ice Storm, only a slightly tilted view, but almost spot on, of the same area:

….. more later!!

Times are a’changin’. Some good things are coming to an end….and some new ones are on the horizon. It’s these transitional, ambivalent times that really try me. I’ve been told that I’m not really a pessimist nor an optimist, but more of a realist. Sometimes that’s not so much fun. I also tend to worry quite a bit. Worry is a hard habit to break. I really just need things to fall into place right now. I’m having to let go of one dream, while we work on achieving another and to get one back that’s been pushed to the side.

I’m mourning. I can’t even type the words. Yet.

It’s not our land. Besides a snag we are finagling with regarding the right-of-way for electricity and the lack of hearing back from the environmentalist on our perk test results, that seems to be still rolling forward. Time is ticking, though. We plan to break ground this weekend – provided it’s not frozen.

The last year and a half is a blur – looking back. There were so many good times, tough times, and so many learning times. There must be a transition to take, but I can’t find it.

Anyone want to buy a turn-key yarn/spinning shop?

…………………….:’(

Contracts, lawyers, utilities, floor plans, packing, storing - there are so many details we are swirling through working out. But it's all good. Even during dream time we experience mildly tumultuous times and it's all worth it. Our dream may not be among the common, but it's ours and it's unfolding.

On another note I am EVER so thankful right now for how MUCH better I feel this week post-allergy-injections than I did last week! Three day headaches that rank up near migraine level are NOT any kinds of fun. 'Short term pain for long term gain' may be one of my most famous quotes but the kind of pain I survived last week is of the likes that NObody should ever have to experience - ever!

I'm off tomorrow, so I have plans to knock out quite a bit around here. For now I'm going to get back to finishing our temporary 'living' room setup. And then I might sit, relax and knit just a little bit.

Suggestion for the day: please consider the true evil involved in going with the lesser of two evils.