Our Homesteading Diary 8, 2005

Not sure how licensed contractors get loops for new construction?? The staking engineer has been here. He promised us a "crew" for pole installation within approximately 10 days. When he was here, we had no homes at all in place, let alone homes of at least 500 square feet, plus we still have no pressurized water supplies to the homes that are there - because we are still waiting on the well drillers. The lagoons are in place, so we do have sewage disposal taken care of when they do show up.

Wish they'd hurry. It'll be SO much nicer when everyone can be in their new homes on a full-time basis.

9/2/05: We spent a few days unpacking & shopping for necessities, then went back up Wednesday, 8/28/05, to rent the second truck. We finally managed a convoy, between the U-Haul, the farm truck, Blazer, utility trailer, and the neighbors (Jon & Becky) with their pickup.  The second U-Haul was a nightmare, as it broke down before we ever got anything loaded into it. Took us almost 6 hours to get it all straightened out & get a different truck. By that time, we were all hungry, so went out to eat, loaded till dark & crashed at the old place overnight. Sure glad we decided to leave that hide-a-bed there!

We headed out around 3 p.m. yesterday with the U-Haul chock full of garage stuff, farm equipment, & a few household things that didn't fit in the first U-Haul - plus the old farm truck loaded down with birds, Blazer full of stuff, plus utility trailer full of goats & Pyrenees, and Jon & Becky's truck loaded with fence panels, etc. Unloaded all the "live" stuff as soon as we got here, but left the truck for morning. Got it all unloaded this a.m. & returned the U-Haul this afternoon.

So, It is mostly all home now. Drone will go back up in a week or so & finish taking down fencing, etc. Now, it's just a matter of unpacking it all - Hey, we could build furniture with all these boxes! After 2 full U-Hauls (the big ones, 26-footers with the Mom's attic things) of stuff, plus numerous loads with both pickup trucks, the Blazer, a friend's car trailer, and our utility trailer, I think we are finally all here. We've had 6 mobile homes toted in, plus a 7th one due to come in next weekend.

Still waiting on the electric company to put 4-5? electric poles up so the rest can have electricity also.. plus the phone company to run new wire & a new junction box thing .. plus the well-drillers to come & drill 2 new wells. However, our fences are built, our livestock & birds are all home, our doggies are all in their nice new kennel areas, our mobile home is a shamble of boxes & I don't even like to LOOK in the shop building at the moment..

Drone will have to go back in a week or so & take down the rest of the fencing & do a bit more cleanup.. (old appliances, etc. - not in OUR yard, but in all the kids yards ) and then we'll be finished. This has been the weirdest move of my life. Once the new house is built, we can move things a little small bit at a time & put them away as we get them over there.

We also have a storm shelter, shelter house, & park yet to build. Our pond is coming along nicely, and is about half done. The dozer has cleared off about half of our orchard space also. We will have to go to the nursery & buy new orchard trees, etc. - but the place is coming together slowly but surely.

8/28/05: We loaded out Thursday, 8/25, with the U-Haul truck. It seemed like it took forever to pack it all up, but we got it done finally. Left home with 4 pairs of dogs in pet taxis in the back of the Blazer, plus my 2 female housedogs in a pet bed in the front seat. Mom had her dog in her car plus a pet taxi holding Mr. Twister (our half-grown kitten). Vehicles were all packed tight. We had some help loading from some of our neighbors (that we will greatly miss). We finally left late (after 8:30) and arrived at "home" between 10 & 11 p.m.

The guys unloaded the truck Friday morning & we took it back Friday afternoon. Saturday, 8/27, we went back up prepared for a full load - and we brought it. He took his Power Wagon & loaded it full of cement blocks. We also had the Blazer with utility trailer on. The guys took down kennels & packed the panels in the utility trailer. We managed to get 13 dogs (in pet taxis) and 1 very angry full-sized cat (also in pet taxi) inside the Blazer. We brought them all home, set up kennels, & fed & watered everybody. 

8/24/05:  Wednesday: We've been busy all day long, packing up the last bits & odds & ends - and they still aren't all packed. Pantry is almost done, even the gadget closet. I don't think there's much in the puppy room to pack, but it's not packed yet. Got to gather up the pet taxi's & fold-up carry cages to put dogs in tomorrow. They will have to take kennel panels down tomorrow also to load in the utility trailer, plus doghouses, feeders, water dishes, etc.

This has been a logistical nightmare so far. LS has both her mobiles on site as of today. The guys should be close to getting ready to pick up the first mobile of ours to go. They are supposed to take one of ours today and 3 on Friday. I pray it all works out that way. We pick up the U-Haul tomorrow morning, load it & utility trailer and go. Then Drone, Gramma C, the munchkin, & l will all be back together on the same place again - for at least a few days.

Friday will be unloading the truck & take it back Sat. morning. Saturday, we'll have to come back here to load goats & birds, plus pick up DS#3 (who will stay here to feed & water livestock till then). We will also pick up his dogs Saturday. Then will spend a few days getting trailers blocked & situated. Then Drone will come back up to take down fencing, load up lawn things, and finish the cleanup.

I hope we never have to move again, not like this. Still have tomorrow to get through somehow; but, we'll make it. I'm glad it's not you too, Deb. Thanks for the prayers & blessings. It has cooled off here quite a bit, and at least we're able to sleep at night (& work/pack during day).

Electrical engineer should be at the new place by next Monday at the latest to put all the electrical poles in.  Then will have to hook up electricity to everybody, plus bring the wells in, & trench in water & sewer lines. DH & the guys will also be installing several Li'l House wood furnaces before winter. So much to get done before snow flies & cold weather creeps up on us.

I figure, though, that the Lord meant for us to have this place - and so it'll all work out the way it's supposed to. It'll all get done. We've accomplished SO MUCH already. At the beginning, it sure sounded like a mountain of stuff to get done. Well, half the mountain is climbed now. Still looks pretty steep from here, but we ARE halfway there.

I will be okay as soon as hubby & I are both back in the same place again. We make a good team, & we can accomplish about anything together that we set our minds & hearts to. Being apart like this has been the VERY hardest thing for me throughout it all.  

8/18/05:  The electrical engineer was on site today. They will be coming in about 10 days to put in all the poles & service loops -- and without all the problems they predicted.

The new mobile toter should be here tomorrow a.m. to look at the mobiles on site here, then go down to the property to look at where they are going. Hopefully, he will take the job and not have any problems.  He said he could probably get to them towards the last part of next week. This means the mobiles & the electrical services should only be a few days apart, if all goes well.  Lulu, our SIL, had the day off. We ladies had a packing marathon!  Lulu packed up most all of the downstairs bathroom. Gramma C. worked on kitchen & pantry. I worked on entertainment center, computers,  and moving furniture around so I could see what was behind one of the desks. We all got TONS of boxes packed! The whole living room looks much larger now!  We are really, really getting there! It was VERY hot today (104F), so we all rested this afternoon, then piddled with a bit more packing after supper when it cooled off. 
I know I am ready now for a cool bath and bed.  

Our dogs & cats all seem to know something is going on. Angel follows me around, stares at me while I am sitting at the computer and jumps in my lap every time I sit down anywhere else, like she is worried about me leaving her behind. Poor thing, but I know she will LOVE the new place too.  She'll be fine, I think, once she's in the Blazer with me, headed for the new place. Guess I'll be fine then too!

8/16/05:  We are getting there..  Office is not yet completely done, but I have managed to throw out 2 more large garbage bags FULL of stuff. It's amazing to me how much JUNK we have managed to collect, old seed catalogues, catalogues of every type & description, magazines.. 27 phone books.. Ok, maybe it was only 12 old phone books - but there was a bunch of them.  We may have found another mobile toter too. Time will tell. He's supposed to be coming to look at the mobiles within the next few days.

8/15/05:  (posted by Drone)  Kennels are done. Goat pasture is close . Chicken coop is on site but not set up yet but it is not a hold up for us as they have quarters that will work till winter if need be . So just about ready here .  

8/15/05:  My nightmare about the box avalanche came partly true yesterday afternoon..  I had gone upstairs, Gramma C was in the kitchen. I heard this big crash, she heard the crash. I immediately worried that she had fallen. She immediately worried that I had fallen. She dashed to the bottom of the stairs. I dashed to the top of the stairs. (Dashing is a big feat for both of us) Neither of us even noticed the pile of boxes until AFTER we dashed..

Once we SAW each other & we both knew the other was okay, then we investigated the source of the crash. Seems as if a whole big old pile of boxes in the living room had fallen over. It may have had some help but we can't prove a thing. I know 2 of our house dogs were upstairs with me. I thought the other house dog was in the kitchen watching Gramma C cook (as all the puppies often love to do). Turned out she was peacefully sleeping in her basket. So everybody was definitely okay. We righted the boxes, and they all turned out to be full of movies, so nothing breakable in them even. 

On another note, we fired the mobile home toter this morning. He had way too many problems with things. His toter is only a single-axle, so he didn't want to pull the mobiles up the "big hill" at our place. This meant he wanted to drop the mobiles half a mile away at the county road. We could have gotten the dozer man to pull them up the final 1/2-mile stretch, but paying him to wait around an extra 3 days to pull 2 mobiles a day up the hill is not cost-effective for us at all. 

On top of that, mobiles cannot be moved down the hiway in the rain by DOT law. Ok, we could deal with that. He informed us that IF the ground was even "greasy" (not even fully muddy), he would not be able to get the mobiles out of where they are.  Most of them are on fairly level ground..  Drone told him he could get the mobiles out with his 4WD.. and couldn't believe a semi could do less. 

Then, even though this same toter put LS's one mobile INTO her property, he informed us that he probably would NOT be able to get it up the slight incline of her driveway. He said he would call first thing this a.m. and check on weather at both places.

We all conferenced about it last night. This morning, we woke up to rain pouring down here at the "old place". It was cloudy & overcast at the new place. So, we've decided to find a different toter, one with a double-axle toter that can pull the mobiles all the way to where they are going.

We also discussed the stress we've all been under and the need for all of us to chill out .

Now that we are back to square one on finding a toter, the pressure to hurry & get things done is off. We are also going to wait until the kennel fencing is ready for dogs and the livestock fencing is ready for goats & other critters. There is no sense in killing ourselves working or with stress. Everything happens for a reason.

This has taken lots of pressure off all of us. We'll get the U-Haul loaded after the fencing is done and we are ready to go.  We are still working at it, but not in as BIG a hurry as before. 

The living room is done except for lamps (those pesky lamps again) and large wall pictures. I can wrap the pictures in cardboard, but what to do with the lamps.. We'll figure out some way to pack them or just put them on the floorboard of the Blazer to transport them. The rest of the office is on the slate for today.  

8/14/05:  As of yesterday, I was at the point of having nightmares.. In this dream, we NEVER got to move.. I just walked through stacks & stacks of boxes, mountains of boxes, until they all fell over & buried me under this huge avalanche of boxes.. I finally finished the upstairs yesterday, all but 2 lamps, a few wall hangings that were too large to fit in boxes, and the alarm clock. I should have been happy to have TWO whole floors finished. Instead, I was tired, cranky, and every part of my body hurt. I was also hot & sweaty.. and cranky, did I mention cranky?

This morning, I got up & stumbled down the stairs to have coffee in my jammies.. Once my eyes were unglued, I went back up to get dressed. I looked around, thinking -- man, this upstairs is really empty looking... My mood just kept getting better. Went to pick up 130 1x2 strips for mobile homes, plus sheetrock screws, and 2 ratchet straps. I never realized how expensive ratchet straps are.

Got a ton of boxes gone through in the living room, threw more stuff out, and packed more boxes in the living room too. I packed 4 boxes of nothing but movies this afternoon. PLUS I had already packed 1 or 2 boxes of movies and have another 1-2 boxes of movies to pack. We watch a lot of movies.. I guess at least half the boxes are full of kid movies.. The main floor is over half done, although not one room is completely done. Each room is about half-packed or better. The kitchen is at least 3/4 packed. Dining room is over half done.

Drone mentioned waiting till next weekend to do the U-Haul thing. The more I think about it, the better it sounds. That way, there will be plenty of time to have the pens done. The mobiles should all be moved by then too. Plus, it gives me more time to finish up on packing the house up. He has been working his tail off down there to get stuff finished up before the move. School starts Wednesday, and the munchkin is already down there with him - so that's not a big deal. He can go to school without me there.

I'll be glad when this is all over. This is the longest amount of time he & I have been apart since we got married.

It has cooled off nicely here tonight. We got some rain, and it's gone down to 70 degrees out. I bet I will sleep better tonight!

8/13/05:  The upstairs is FINALLY done, except for 2 lamps and a few wall hangings that were too big to fit in the boxes I had up there.  Now I can concentrate on the downstairs. Gramma C. has been packing up the kitchen. Our cabinets are really starting to look empty now. When I go through the living room, I'll have to take at least 6 photos of how the stereo is hooked up before we unhook it, so it will get hooked up the same way it's supposed to be.  If Drone was unhooking it, we probably wouldn't need the photos. He remembers everything like that. Me, on the other hand, I will NOT remember.

I do have to get to town to pick up the 1x2 stripping & screws for the outsides of the mobiles, plus stop & talk to our salvage man about some tires and the one non-running vehicle that's left here. I also need to call the school down there to give them our new phone number down there.

I asked Drone last night if the school had called him. He said No. Then he asked what number I had given them. After I thought about it, I had given them T's cell phone number. No wonder they didn't call him!   I was starting to get panicked last night when he told me he was hoping to have the dog pens ready by Sunday. I thought he meant he would be ready for us to bring the truck by Sunday.. I looked around at all this STUFF still left to pack, thinking - there is no way I'll be ready for a truck by Sunday.

Thank goodness that was not what he meant at all. I had high hopes of having a truck by yesterday.. but that was a little TOO ambitious on my part, especially with the heat here. I told him I've actually had nightmares where I am buried beneath an avalanche of mountains of boxes and I NEVER get to move.. 

He told me, it'll all be alright. It'll all work out when it's supposed to and the way it's supposed to -- Which is all I really needed to hear anyway. Whenever I'm stressed out, he can make me feel better with just those 2 magic little sentences. 

He is an amazing guy..  He has done so much and worked so hard on that property, much of the time by himself. The angels above must have sent him just for me, because he has sure been a blessing in my life.  

8/9/05:  DD#2 came up & helped us pack several more boxes out of our kitchen pantry cupboards yesterday. She's 5'11" tall, so she can reach the top shelf, whereas Gramma C. & I can't.  Gramma cooked our supper last night in the oven in a cast-iron skillet as all the baking pans are packed.  We are getting there... We really are. I still have the rest of the office to pack up.. plus rest of living room, dining room, kitchen, & pantry - and a few things out of the basement. Lots of that is just hit & miss now, where it's "mostly" packed but not quite.

"Dozer on site" was good to hear.  Dog pens are almost done now. Goat pens are close. We are at the final countdown now. that everything will go smoothly from now till moving days. 

8/7/05:  Argh.. Maybe I tried to get it done TOO quick. Did something to my back yesterday & had to quit. Hopefully will be alright today. Am hoping to go get the U-Haul by Friday night or EARLY Saturday a.m.  

Ok, maybe Monday.. Today held quite the packing adventures..

I got up early this a.m. so I could talk to Drone via YM. Now that he has the new there, It's cheaper to YM than long-distance. After coffee, went upstairs. I had only a few things left to do in our room, pack up the nightstands, hang-up clothes in the closet, go through a box of books, take down the wall hangings, and tape some boxes shut & mark em.

While carrying stuff from one nightstand, I tripped & fell. Hit my face on a big empty plastic tub.. plus bruised up both legs, one hand, one elbow.. I am developing a nice black eye, plus have a bruise across the bridge of my nose. How I kept from breaking my glasses, I do NOT know. watching over.. They flew off, and the first thing I did was look for them to check & see if they were broken. Gramma C & my SIL Lulu heard the crash. They thought maybe the cats knocked something down on the porch. When they realized it wasn't on the porch, Lulu flew up the stairs. For a little tiny short woman, she can sure run FAST!

Of course, I was okay, just bruised, dirty, & rug burned.. I put the backpack in a box. It was the frame to that I tripped over. The worst part was I had just moved it out of the hallway so I wouldn't trip over it there!

I did get the bedroom finished up completely (cept for the reading lamp & alarm clock). Started on the guest room. The closet in there is almost done now too. Not much left to go in there because lots of that stuff is already in boxes & tubs, as my craft things reside in there along with my sewing machine. The munchkin's room is just a matter of throwing toys in boxes, and then the whole upstairs will be done. I'm going to try and finish up most of the guest room tonight or tomorrow.

While I was doing all that, Mom was boxing up yet MORE canned goods. These were store-bought cans though. Our home-canned good closet in the pantry is empty! Packed all that up yesterday. Slowly but surely, it's all coming together. DD#2's DH came down this afternoon and carried a few boxes here & there for us. So that was good.  Moving time for us is maybe a week away (or less)!!  Of course, once we move all our stuff in the big truck, DH will spend the time it takes to unload the big truck, then I'll be down there & he'll be up here, moving the rest of the stuff, getting mobiles moved, etc. It'll all be over soon. September 1st can't possibly be that far away, right?  

8/5/05:  Dozer comes in on Monday, provided that the one dozer is back up & running. Drone talked to the dozer operator. He would have been there this week, except that he had to make repairs on one of his dozers. If all goes well, he'll be there with both dozers on Monday!

T. & I took 2 mobile tires to get air in them this a.m., plus a 5-gallon gas can for gas in the pickup. We also dropped off the disposable camera for developing, so I can pick that up on Monday. Then I can post more photos of "base camp", etc. Drone got our mailbox put up. He is working on the wiring in the mobile today. He said they delivered all the railroad ties this morning for the dog kennels. He also picked up tons of other materials he needed yesterday, including cement, landscape timbers for gates, plus a new breaker box & new breakers to go in it.

He had opened the phone interface box day before yesterday & about a zillion red wasps came out of it. He counted 16 stings. As he is allergic to stings, he immediately got dizzy & fell down. He made it to the Benadryl & laid down after taking it. He called afterwards to tell me about it, but he was okay by then. It was scary to me though, considering he is there by himself and nobody to call 911 if he really got hurt. 

After my break this afternoon, I'll get busy on boxes again. We've been working in the pantry & kitchen today. We have most of our home-canned goods packed up - only a few pint jars left. That's the emptiest that closet has been for years!! Only 2 more closets to empty in the pantry after that one.

Drone said as soon as we get all the stuff packed up, we can go pick up a U-Haul truck and bring it on down there. AND we don't have to wait until the 15th. So, this has given me an extra incentive to get it done quicker!
8/3/05:  I drove down to the new property early Sunday a.m. (July 31st). We got there before 9 a.m. SIL helped out Drone while T. was helping Paul with fencing. When Paul was done with his fencing for the day, he went into the woods where T & SIL were helping Drone. However, as Paul was on his way in, they were on their way out of the woods to get some supper. So they all had supper instead.

Drone had made a deal with the son of the folks we purchased from, and he carted lots of tee-posts into the woods with his wagon. They got 120-some tee posts driven, and more to go. However, T came back with me today so he can start some of the millions of things that still need to be done here.

He will be taking mobiles down off blocks & putting them back on tires. Also will be carting the burnable trash to the burning area to take care of that AND loading the furniture, appliances, etc. from the mobiles that won't go into the mobiles that will go. In the meantime, I have less than 2 weeks to finish packing up our house before we cart what we have here in a big old U-haul truck and move it on down. We have to be living there by the 16th so the munchkin can start school.

We did get the school-aged kids signed up for school also. They will be starting on the 17th. The folks we bought from "officially" had until the 11th of this month to be out, but they managed to get it all out of there by the evening of the 1st. Drone is doing a bit of work to the mobile while nobody is in it now. Truthfully, for the age of the mobile, there isn't a LOT of work that needs to be done - just a few things.

He sent home one of the disposable cameras with me to get photos developed, so we can post our photos in the journal also.

7/29/05:  I wish the move were going faster. We all seem to be stuck in *WAIT* mode right now, waiting on the dozer work to be done. Almost everything else waits for that -- including gravel trucks, light poles, phone lines, well driller, mobile home mover, backhoe, water lines, sewer lines, etc., etc. Of course, the ladies are packing boxes. The men are building fences, but it doesn't seem to be a lot of moving ACTION, you know? It's frustrating -- and I'm SO tired of these HUMONGOUS piles of boxes.

I'll be driving back down again EARLY Sunday a.m. to show DD & SIL the way down there, as he will be helping with fencelines Sun & Mon. With FOUR of them running post drivers, those tee posts ought to be in fast. DD & I will enroll the kiddles in school on Mon. also. Will spend my BD on Tuesday with my hubby, and come home Wednesday - so I'll be gone another 4 days.

Drone went & paid the electric deposit today, so there will be no interruption in service. I'll have to get the phone company contacted again to order the service too. That way, he can call home without using up T's cell minutes.

There is NO trash service available there. None of the companies will drive that far to pick up our trash We'll have to figure out something else, I guess. I guess we'll have to do like we've been doing here - burn paper products, recycle aluminum, and haul off cans to the dump - if we can find that. We were SO hoping to get someone to just haul it ALL off..

7/28/05:  The fencing must be going well. Talked to Drone a few minutes yesterday early a.m. Tried to call the cell phone after 9 p.m., and he was already asleep. I'll try again tonight.  

I think we have all our ducks in a row as far as utilities go, electricity, phone, internet - except still have not found a trash service.

I am completely finished with the upstairs hallway & its terrible, evil closet plus finished with the bathroom upstairs. I swear, that hallway closet has been a dumping zone for teenagers for over 7 years!

After I call Drone, will work on our bedroom this evening. That's a scary thought too! I am throwing TONS of stuff away. This should make everybody so very PROUD of me, as it's difficult (to say the least) for me to throw anything away. So, packing is coming along nicely also. :grin I bought a BIG box of heavy-duty garbage bags just to use for trash upstairs - like old clothes, shoes, toys, that the now-grown kids stashed in odd places, plus clothes Drone & I can't or won't wear anymore, stuff we don't need, or just stuff we don't want.

I believe I have found almost every piece of clothing & pairs of shoes my daughters ever borrowed from me and did not return too - so that's a plus - at least in SOME cases. hehehe..

7/26/05:  They will be picking up fencing supplies today, putting in a quick fence & some hoop houses for birds. They should be back here by this weekend, if all goes well -- unless the dozer shows up before that, then they'll stay until he is done.

7/25/05:  Just got back from a 4-day camp-out on the new property. Drone & T are still down there. As they took the pickup and large trailer down, the passenger side wheel bearing in front went out. They managed to "limp" the pickup down to the property, and barely managed to get it back in to the shop the following day. The hub was ruined. Drone was sitting in the park on Thursday when he called, worrying about so much to get done & no transportation. So, I packed a small case, put the kid in the Blazer, & headed on down. Saturday, the alternator went out in the Blazer. We had to get a ride to the parts store when LS & her hubby came down.

Saturday afternoon, we rode with the folks we bought the new place from (who are rapidly becoming fast friends). They took us to a friend they had finally been able to get ahold of (who just got out of the hospital). He had a big old yard full of Dodge trucks & Dodge parts. He sold us the parts. We then went to look at a mobile home, & went back to the place. He changed the alternator Sunday, and the Blazer was back in business. We dropped the parts off at the shop for the pickup this morning, and he had it fixed by this afternoon. After we picked up the truck, I went back & got our case & the kid & reluctantly came back here.

I still have LOTS of stuff to pack yet & it's looking like we will be able to go anytime after August 5th - so I have to really get busy this week.

7/18/05: We're excited about the move, as things DO seem to be happening a bit more rapidly now, but I also have days of alternating between being overwhelmed, bummed out, and excited all at once. I am sometimes tired of tripping over boxes, dripping with sweat, falling into bed after a pain pill, muscle spasms, and on & on - and still feeling like I'm getting nowhere some days. BUT, luckily, one of the things the good Lord gave me was a sense of humor AND the ability to laugh at myself... & really see that it's only normal discouragement and it could ALWAYS be worse. hehe..

I started on Isaiah's room today (as he is gone). His closet is empty & I managed to pack one box of too-small clothes (for hand-me-down pickup) and one large suitcase of slightly too-large clothes. Of course, I also threw 5 bags of trash on the truck too. Gramma C. started on her room today too. The heat about did us both in, and we both had to quit.

As far as pastures for livestock, he will probably start by fencing around 4-5 acres for pasture for goats. They really don't have to be rotated like other "grazers", because they really don't bother with eating the grass. They will eat leaves, brush, saplings, weeds, flowers, raspberries, roses, asparagus, rhubarb, potatoes, even chives.. but will NOT eat grass unless there's just absolutely nothing left available to eat (which is never the case in the Ozarks summertime). Ours have never really had to resort to eating grass, let alone eating it down to the ground.. hehe.. Ours get a combination of dairy goat pellets &/or goat pellets & sweet feed (50/50) rotated every other day with good alfalfa hay. They do eat the hay, so maybe it's just dead grass they like??

Drone was way ahead of himself with the milking thing. He dried all the milkers off right before Jacob's Cave. So, until after they're all freshened again this fall, we won't have fresh milk until around Jan/Feb of next year & after. They'll still have to be moved - and, no, they probably won't like it - but they'll be fine once they get to the new fence & settle in with their new barn, food, & some water.

Our dog kennels aren't on grass, dirt, or cement. They're all built on raised beds filled with pea gravel. (We are both partial to the idea of raised beds for making work easier!) These are much easier to clean, no muddy doggies, & can be scooped with a horse-apple rake, just like cleaning a kitty litter box. He will put together the same type of raised beds in there, but will actually do indoor/outdoor pens with a building of their own.

After he has the "raised beds" together, we will move them (the doggies) a pair or trio at a time in pet carriers & carry crates (except for the Pyrenees - we don't have crates large enough for them!). Our pens are mostly built of purchased kennels that consist of 3 panels and a gate section, although 2 were chain-link that we put together. So, as we move one pair or trio, their kennel will come down, be loaded on flat, and ride down for quick setup at the new place. Those puppies can be "spoiled" till their new pens are put together. Mostly, the doggies are happy wherever we are.

We are supposed to be out of here by Sept 1st, when the new owner is supposed to take possession. School starts on 8/17 - so that's another deadline. The people at the new place technically have 30 days after closing to move out before we take possession - which brings us up to around the 10th or 11th?

We have seriously not had time for canning, produce auctions, etc. I have stuff in the freezer to take care of "later", like turning strawberries into jam - but it's all been put on hold until after the move for now.

July 19: Talked to Lee this morning. He has most of the lines measured & marked now, also where the new road will go in. He was waiting on a call from a dozer operator who could get in as early as next week. We have a mobile mover who will move the mobiles for $600 apiece but wants to see the road after the dozer work to see what he's getting himself into. LOL He had not talked to the well driller yet, but had talked to someone with a backhoe too. He was very excited about his progress so far.

Our method of moving is as follows: Unpack & set up bedrooms first, then kitchen & bathroom next. Beds to sleep in, food to eat, bathroom to do your business in. LOL Everything else takes a backseat to the Big 3. I also have a "thing" about making sure all the boxes are well marked, all 4 sides and tops, plus at least a good idea of what's in each box & what room it goes to. These are even marked E for essential (stuff that needs to be in the mobile), NE for non-essential (stuff that can go into the shop building), and E/NE for essential non-essentials (stuff that is probably essential but we won't need right away - like holiday items, winter clothes, games, toys, etc.) We have marked a few boxes of toys as E - so the munchkin will have toys to play with when we get there. But when he finally gets to unpack his E/NE toys, it'll be just like Christmas!

I'm trying to take care of myself. I do push past my limits, but I know when I HAVE to go to bed too. As far as recruiting help, my adult kids have been helping & even my sister-in-law, but they are all packing up their own stuff too -- so help is limited right now. Gramma Corky pushes herself too. She has 9 stents in her heart, but works far beyond her limits at times. Then she goes to bed too. Packing the boxes itself isn't my main problem, it's carrying the boxes to the big stacks that I have trouble with. hehehe.. So, I usually just pile them up & talk one of the boys into stacking them on the screen porch whenever one shows up! I do quit packing when it gets too hot for me to breathe comfortably or when my back (or feet or other body parts) starts hurting too bad.

7/16/05:  Drone has headed off for his first trip to haul "stuff" to the new place. He will drive back home tonight, then go back down tomorrow for a longer stay to start the work down there. I feel like we are getting down to the wire on our deadlines now - or maybe I mean to say the clock is ticking faster??

Will be that he can find good workmen to get the work done in a reasonable amount of time, so we can get everything done that needs to be done in the amount of time we have to get it that way.  

7/15/05: My cousin came up this morning & helped me go through everything in the attic. I sorted the boxes, and he hauled them down the ladder. So, the attic's done now.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be, so that was good. It only took us 20 or 30 minutes. Somehow, though, It made me feel TONS better just to think that "one whole floor" of the house is finished.

7/14/05:  I'm so discouraged today with packing. I've gotten 3 boxes packed this morning. I don't have ONE room completely packed up of nonessential items yet, not even the screen porch. I start a box, and try to get all of one set of items in the box. Either there is too many to fit in the box or not enough. So then I end up throwing them in 2 boxes or adding other things to fill it up. Plus, everything has to be washed & dried or at least dusted before putting in the boxes.

Packed up kitchen geese things in the first box this morning. Too many, so started another box. Not enough for a second box, so added my state plates - which all had to be washed & dried, and there was not enough room for the largest goose things. Started a box for my wind-chimes. The largest one was too big around for the box I picked, so had to find a bigger box. It laid in there flat then, but put all the rest of the wind chimes in there, and the box is only half full. So put the 2 large geese that wouldn't fit in the other box, plus dream catchers, etc.

I am still working on decorative items, wall pictures, etc. and haven't even started on clothes, pots & pans, etc. I still don't have my desk areas completely done. My back hurts already, and I am worn out already today.

7/12/05:  Drove up to look at a pickup truck on Saturday, and fortunately it was just what he wanted. Had Sunday to rest, but I did work on packing office supplies, software, and cleaning stuff off the desks. The office area is a nightmare to pack, that's for sure.

Closed on the place down there on Monday, which all went smoothly too. We found Gramma C. a car while we were there in town also. She & I spent all afternoon getting insurance, title, and plates on her car. I also took that opportunity to get my DL renewed. Plus we stopped at grocery store for a few, and stopped to get chick starter feed. We did stop at DQ & celebrated her newly-legal wheels with small ice cream cones.

Drone went to get his pickup inspected, then had to take it and have mufflers put on plus put a front bumper on it. He opted not to wait for the "antique" plate application approval to be able to drive it. So, we paid for the insurance on that and dropped his insurance card off at the muffler shop on our way by there.

The last non-running vehicle was hauled off today. The first went last Friday, and the other 3 were hauled off today. The same guy will haul off 2 of the older mobiles that we are not taking - but the new owner does NOT want us to leave them here.

Drone will go tomorrow & pick up a friend's car trailer to use for hauling some firewood, our farm truck, and an old van we're keeping down to the new place. The rest of the week, Drone & T will be working on getting that stuff down there. Not sure how long that will take, but he is hoping to have the camper hauled down by first of next week, I think.

7/9/05:  We closed on the property here yesterday. Will close on the new property Monday. We are searching for a pickup truck for DH now. We have to have 2 vehicles if he is going to be at the new property working and I am going to be here packing. Our farm truck is not road-legal, and we only use it for firewood, etc. So a pickup truck is our next order of business.

6/24/05:  This has been a hectic few weeks.  We found a new place to go.  We sold our home to the man who owns the construction company, who was a very nice guy, by the way.  He said he really doesn't intend to do anything with the property.  That's fine, but we are still moving.  We still have all the issues with the County school and the lawsuit against the school from when the school bus ran over our grand-daughter over a year ago.  So, we'll be moving most all of the community to a "new and improved" Sugar Mountain.  Hopefully, we can get this done and get everyone moved before school starts. 

6/12/05:  I'm sure you all have probably noticed we haven't been on the computer a whole lot lately. There are a few reasons for this. We've had almost daily thunderstorms :rain here for the past week. After having lost several modems to lightening strikes, we just unplug the computer from the phone lines during thunderstorms now.  We have also been dealing with some other issues. We live above a small lake and dam here, Lake Niangua & Tunnel Dam. When we purchased our property back in 1998, most of the surrounding property was owned by old-time families, many of whom had been in the area for 50+ years, land inherited, etc. What wasn't owned by those was owned by the power company. Land in this area was difficult to obtain and pretty much guaranteed to be remote. At the lake, there was a fishing camp resort on the lake, with small log cabins for rent during summer & again during hunting season. They did a good business. These cabins were all built in the 1930's, during the construction of the dam here.

Within the last few years, some of the old-time families have started selling out. A year ago, the lady who owned the fishing camp resort finally sold out -- to a large construction company owner. We were told that he intended to use the cabins & campground for private use only, as a recreational area for his 180+ employees. Since that time, we've dealt with issues surrounding these employees. During hunting season, there were some who drove up & down the road "spot-lighting" our livestock in the night. They have had occasions of "road-hunting" from pickup trucks, and many, many incidents with 4-wheelers & ATV's trespassing and riding back & forth on the county roads themselves.  After some discussion with the owner, most of the problems have ceased. The man who owns the construction company has also purchased everything he could get his hands on in the immediate area, much of it land that is in behind us, between us & the river, and on the other side of us. He has bought up hundreds of acres and has expressed an interest in buying everything from the blacktop to the lake. He is interested in turning much of the land he's already purchased into development properties.

He's interested in purchasing our property, partly for the purpose of building a private road in behind us to reach from the lake through to his other properties without utilizing the county roads (4-wheelers & ATV's are not legal to drive on county roads). Unfortunately, we don't have the buying power to compete with him as far as buying up empty property to keep developers out. We also don't want to be surrounded by housing developments. Therefore, we've been having community discussions regarding selling out the whole works to him and moving most of the community elsewhere.  Most of us are agreed on moving the community. A few have not decided, and a few will definitely not be moving. We have been looking for property here in MO to relocate to. We are now at the point of having a few properties that we will be going to look at when we can arrange appts to do so (hopefully soon).  Of course, this could be a logistical nightmare - but it will definitely be a learning experience -- and quite an adventure!!

6/8/05:  We're back from Jacob's Cave.  Went down Wednesday morning & took the camper.  He came back on Thursday to bring the trailer loaded with birds (Rhode Island Red chicks & bronze turkey poults).  We did well, sold all of our turkeys and most of our RIR chicks.  Found a 22-qt Presto canner for $15, plus brought home 2 more African gray geese, 4 tuxedo ducks, 7 pairs of bronze Seabright banties, and some silky chickens, hens & roosters.    I think the strawberries are done for the year, now need to start getting some jam made up.  Before we left for Jacob's Cave, we canned up several pints of turnip greens after he went out and thinned the turnips out.  Will be canning spinach soon too, I think.  Now we'll have TWO canners - so it should go faster.  :)  We did have a great time (as usual) at Jacobs Cave.  He might be doing a few more swap meet type things this summer.  He went yesterday & picked up 4 Boer does, 2 for us and 2 for the neighbors.  They are very pretty girls. 

5/10/05:  Our camping trip was great.  Have been working on spring cleaning since we got back.  With luck, the spring cleaning might be done by winter.  We are also getting ready for a few other things.  Mom will be visiting for a week from Florida and should get here next Monday.  We have friends coming from out of state for a visit on Memorial Day weekend.  Jacob's Cave is also coming up soon, June 2nd through 5th.  We'll have plenty of birds to take with us.  It has finally warmed up.  It's supposed to be 89 degrees today and up to 90 degrees tomorrow.  We got a fence around our strawberry bed with a net over the top to keep the chickens out of the strawberries.  We might actually get some of our own strawberries this year.  I need to get out in the garden & do some weeding later this evening when it cools off.

4/18/05:  The tire rows, tire beds, & raised beds are working out great in the garden.  So far, we've planted cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, and zucchini.  We'll be getting a few more tomato plants, some peppers, green beans, sweet corn, lettuce, & radishes planted too.  Also will be planting huckleberry & hardy kiwi when those come up too.  He mowed front & back yards today & also ran the weed-eater through front, back, & side yards.  The tulips are almost done & so are the redbuds.  Dogwoods are blooming very pretty, along with Ozark bells, violets, Grecian windflowers, and lilacs.  The lilacs smell so good.  I picked a bunch of violets to dry today.  The irises will be blooming soon.  The hostas look great this year.  The rock garden is coming along.  It looks great but still needs a little weeding done.  He is going to go through it with the weed-eater too.  We are going camping this coming weekend, the first camping trip of the year.  :) 

4/10/05:  Lee's been putting chicken, turkey, and goose eggs into the incubator.  He found a turkey nest with 19 eggs in it and brought them in like a kid in a candy store.  We had some forest fires here last week, 2 fires in 2 nights.  Fortunately, they didn't get to our property.  We had 7 of our community members turn out to volunteer in helping fight the fires though.  The fire dept appreciated the help.  With our community's help & the help of some other folks in the area, the church was saved.  None of the homes or buildings within the range of the fire were burned, although acres and acres of forest & trees went up in flames. 

We've been planting seeds in peat pots, for garden huckleberry & hardy giant kiwi plants.  He has also been putting starts from forsythia, quince, lilacs, wisteria, trumpeter vines, & grapes in pots.  AND he spent some time on a new garden design that will allow us to take our garden spot back out of pasture.  He has 5 wood raised beds laid out along one side, plus 2 tire-bed rows and other tire-bed spots for various melons & vine crops to grow off by themselves.  I should be able to actually work in the garden again once it's finished, as we won't be needing a hoe and I won't have to do any bending, or stooping, or kneeling. He's also been working on his fencing project, with the intention of putting a minimum of 15 acres into summer pasture for the goats.  This should help clean up a lot of brush, wild grape vines, dead leaves, etc.  He just rotates as to which project he works on each day, so he doesn't get bored with any of them.  

I posted some new photo gallery pages in the Gardening section.  One shows the progress on the "jungle, another for the rock garden, and a third one just for spring blooms.  I think they turned out well.

3/17/05:  St. Patrick's Day is here.  He has been outside raking leaves, burning leaves & brush, in general cleaning up the yard for spring.  It's been chilly out at night here, but fairly nice during the day.  The discussion forum seems to be working well.  As of today, we have 13 registered members!  :) 

3/14/05:  Wish Spring would quit dragging it's feet & hurry up & get here.  We have wonderful warm days, like Saturday, when it was up to 73 degrees, then back down to 19 degrees here this a.m.  It has warmed up somewhat today.  However, it's only supposed to get into the 40's.  I think I might have figured out a place to put the baby's breath, but it's still not warm enough to plant that yet anyway.  Have to wait till after the last frost.  I know, it'll get here when it gets here, but I still wish it would hurry up!  :)

3/6/05:  Been working the website.  Working on updating photos, to make them load faster, plus make sure they are all copyrighted.  Also, have been working on that discussion forum.  It looked great in Front Page, but just would NOT work on the website.  Then, found out it won't work because of the SERVER!  (Thank you to the friend who finally notified us by e-mail that it was not working).  So, have been looking around for other alternatives.  Finally decided to go with a PPBforfree BBS board.  That is located at:  Sugar Mountain's Homesteading Board  You register your username & password for free from the board, which joins you up so you're then a member of the board.  Then just post & read messages to your heart's content.  You can ask questions, share experiences, or just chit-chat.  We've all been kind of sick around here, except for the munchkin, who is just fine & dandy!  Gramma C. has pneumonia, and we've both had some type of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis thing going on.  Not fun, but we're taking antibiotics, so hopefully will get over it soon. 

3/1/05:  We ended up with some more winter weather around here.  It's been COLD at night for the last few days, but getting up around 40 in the day.  We did get a tiny bit of snow flurries, but not enough to stick around.  Can't wait till it all evens out.  Lee spent several days working on the yard with chainsaw, the leaf-blower, and rakes, burning off dead leaves, etc.  He says the yard gets bigger every year.  I agree, it does.  He thinned out our lilac bushes by quite a bit, revealing an old flower bed under one.  Hmmmmm.  Wonder what we'll do with that? 

2/21/05:  It's kidding season around here!  Starting on 2/15, Patches gave us a little doe.  Then, White had white doe twins the same day.  Plum had twins, 1 doe, 1 buck the following day.  Sunday, 2/20, Dot had twins, 1 buck & 1 doe.  Misty gave us twin bucks the same day.  We should soon have milk to make cheese again.  The weather has been pretty warm lately, but still a bit up & down.  We've been planting bulbs for crocuses and hyacinths.  He dug the holes, I just put the bulbs in and covered them up.  We saved marigold seeds from last year's lacy French marigolds, so we planted 3 tire beds with those.  We also have plenty of marigold seeds left and will be putting rings of marigolds around the fruit trees to keep the rabbits & deer away from them.  He went down to sow a field full of purple coneflower too and some other flower seeds.  I still have baby's breath but not sure where to put it.  My sister sent me 2 BioMat gardens for Christmas, a tree ring of Sweet Williams and an accent garden of hollyhocks, so I think we'll be putting those in the island around the sedum stumps (one at each end of the red hot poker bed).  Can't plant those until after danger of frost is all gone.  I have tons of stuff from in the house to separate out, the aloe vera has some babies, airplane plant has tons of starts on.  I can't wait till it gets warm enough to get outside on a more regular basis.  I hope we can start making our bundt borders and stepping stones this spring.

1/23/05:  Our weather has been really up & down, from much warmer than average to much colder than average and back again.  As far as the rain and flooding in our neck of the woods, the whistle was under about 10 feet of water.  The river was up even with the dam.  There are tons of debris down by the dam and all along downriver, including pieces of broken docks, driftwood, leaves, gates, and all kinds of things that washed down from upriver.  The water came up over the whistle by quite a ways and covered the roads on both sides of the river for quite a ways up.  The men have been spending their time working on cutting firewood, getting the rest of this winter's wood in and cutting up wood to season for next winter too.  Of course, this is the time of year to browse through all the seed catalogues, dreaming of flowers, vegetables, fruits, and trees. 

Our parsley, comfrey, and blue bugler that we brought in from outdoors have done well over the winter indoors.  The aloe vera plant has become huge and had babies.  These will have to be split up into separate pots come spring.  The large plant will also have to be put in a larger pot or planted in the ground outdoors.  I don't know for sure if it will over-winter here outside, so will have to do some investigating on that.  We brought the big sage plant in on the screen porch for the winter, along with several other pots of things.  I thought the sage had died, but there are tons of little sprouts now in the big pot.  So, we may farm some of those out into the beds down by the cabin, down by the sweet grass patch.  A neighbor had brought us a pot with a pepper plant in it last fall, & we've kept it inside all winter.  It now has blooms on it.  We have an airplane plant inside too that will have to have all the "babies" taken off and potted separately to give out to the kids & the neighbors. 

I don't know if the begonias, impatiens, & petunias will come back out front or not.  I did gather plenty of the lacy French marigold seeds to replant in the spring.  We also got some bulbs for other flowers that will need to be planted sometime.  We had bought 3 Stevia plants last year and have been babying them along.  Regardless of babying, 2 of them died.  The other one is definitely doing well and growing like a weed!  Hopefully, by summer, it will be big enough to take some starts off of and plant in more pots, as we really would like to grow the Stevia on a larger scale than just one pot full. 

1/9/05:  We got some snow here night before last.  It snowed 2-3 inches, but was already starting to melt by yesterday afternoon.  We have gotten a lot of rain in the first week of this year!  Some counties were reporting 7 inches of rain.  Not sure how much we got here, but it did rain for days. 

01/01/05:  It's another New Year!  Hope everyone has a great year.  We've had our share of ups & downs over the past year.  We're still here, though, and I guess that's the main thing.  Cappy had a litter of 8 Great Pyrenees puppies this morning, so that was great news.  We have another litter of Chihuahua puppies due towards the end of this month; AND we should be expecting a new litter of Cavaliers around March 4th, so that's more great news.  Our bronze turkeys are getting huge, as are the geese.  We will have goats kidding starting the end of this month or beginning of February.  Hopefully, we'll have tons of baby birds, goat kids, and puppies to take to Jacob's Cave in June.  We'll probably be taking down the tree & the village this weekend.  Happy New Year!  

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Our Homesteading Diary 10, 2007

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