Saturday, June 30, 2007

We have 2 computers down and I am doing most of my blogging at the library..hopefully this will be a short term issue however I wanted everyone to know I was not sucked into a vacuum caused by breaking through an old floorboard and opening a portal into another dimension where I found myself battling evil using a heatless paint remover and a spackle knife.
I know you are relieved.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Wll, so far we have lost three chicks. Hopefully there will be no more casualties. I talked to the people at the hatchery and they thought it must be a shipping thing..and offered to credit my account. I told them no since the three that died were three extra that they had given me over what I ordered.
I couldnt sleep...I had to write a letter ..you know, an official one..to a credit card company that is harrassing me for a bill that I paid, and then I had to copy it to my lawyer and the credi bureaus and ..well you know. If you see an offer from First Equity Credi cards..run..run very fast.
I have been thinking how hard i is to restore an old house but even more difficult when you are trying to restore it and at the same time be ecologically responsible. I mean, 0 VOC paints are awesome but the cost is prohibitive when you are talking large, old houses. ANd there are other things too...I don't know..I am jsut thinking out loud this morning. Waiting for Marc to get up so we can head for the gym....
I would like to do a rain barrel..I would like to have another vegetable garden.but where? We have so many big trees and so much shade..and then there are the horses..and they dont seem to understand the difference between greenbean seedlings and grass. Silly things
When you have an old house that you are restoring you are all ready doing soemthing ecologically responsible..the ultimate in recycling if you will. I do try to get vintage items when possible, and so I guess I am saving a few trees there..some oil and gasoline because the items are usually local if possible. And old houses are more green anyway..Think about it..the new shoeboxes are created to make it cheaper to use airconditioning but the old houses are designed to make sumer liveable without air copnditioning at all, even in Texas. We don't use it. Sometimes it gets hot, unbearably so, in the middle of August..but we are good most of the summer and when the heat gets too bad we just sit and pant.
I know that when we are done we will have a home that we can be proud of..we will have accomplished a BIG thing...but I just have to say....
It's not easy being green.

Sunday, June 17, 2007


This post is dedicated totally to the memory of my dad..
Being Father's Day and all, despite the festivities at church and surrounding my own husband, awesome Dad of 8 that he is, I needed to take a few quiet minutes and contemplate the richness that was my dad...And maybe I can have a few moments of private, quiet tears, if you don't mind...Thanks.
Dad was one of the old breed of men that could do anything. He knew everything and could make anything run. He knew the best voices for all the characters in Uncle WIggly and he knew how to build a pint size china cabinet ( I still have it..bright red..)He built a playhouse that was the envy of the other kids on the block. He painted my room pink..he made my first child a cradle that is so beautiful he was offered 500.00 for it when he stopped for gas on the way to bringing it to my house..and that was 26 years ago. He taught me all the important stuff..how to swim..how to bait a hook, how to spit on the worm before you cast into the water with just the right flick of the writst. He taught me how to whistle, how to ride a horse, how to drive and how to be secure. He told me I was the most gorgeous creature on earth and the reason I did not get dates was because boys were scared of me.
He taught me my multiplication tables, and how to measure area..he had much beter control over me than my mom ever did but I only remember him spanking me one time..we both cried.
Working on the house reminds me of him because he was always building, fixing, or making..He would have loved this house with all the potential it has..He would have runhis hands over the heart pine floors..looked carefully over the layout of the house...he would have listened to the house's history and intuitively known what to do and how to accomplish it.
So when I am nailing or painting or something I feel close to him. I talk to him in my mind sometimes, trying to remember bits of information he gave me, how to toenail into a stud, how to use danish oil, when to use the amber shellac..I have his old tools, the primitive things that were high tech in 1930...hand augers, hand saws, hammers of various sorts...
This house connects me to my dad even though he never set foot in it. I work with painstaking care, not just because it is important to me to do a job well but because I would want him to be proud of the work..
I miss him so much. My life is full, I have a fantastic husband, 8 wonderful kids, a son in law that I cherish, 2 grandkids that I adore...but there will always be a hole in my heart that i shaped like dad.
If your dad is still alive then spend all the time with him you can..even if he is cranky and irritating and hard to deal with...once he is gone..he will be gone..and you will never be loved in quite that way again.
Thanks for letting me have this little cry..I needed it today.

Saturday, June 16, 2007



I mmissed this yesterday at My Life As Anniebut I like the concept alot and so here I go...


Appetizer
Fill in the blank..The best thing about where I live is: It has always been my dream to life in a big OLD farmhouse. Sometimes it is frustrating because of all the things that we need to do in the restoration but I know that someday it will be so worth it! I love that we have a creek for the kids to play and swim in, enough property for horses, chickens and goats, and that we have big old trees for shade. I love the big porch and the gian kitchem..I love that I have 4 ovens...I love that the house has history.
Soup
Create a new name for deoderant
hmmm... Sweat Be-gone


salad
nothing..I have promised Marc to never again do anything to the computer but turn it on, type and turn it off.
Main Course
If you were to win a superlative award today beginning with the words, "Most likely to" what would the rest of it say?
Most likely to forget to milk the goats because she was caught up in a blog fog

Dessert
What two colors do you like to wear together?
Red and burnt orange. What can I say? I am an autumn

Friday, June 15, 2007


The chicks are here. We got 30 of the. I had ordered 25 females and 2 males and they threw in an extra 2 of the barred rocks that I ordered and a rare breed that I have no clue about.
BUT...all is not well in mudville tonight. Two of the chicks have died in the past two days and I am really bummed about it. I can't figure out why..I mean, the last bastch we got all of them lived...anyway I am praying that this is it...

the dog is enjoying looking at them..and no, he isnt the cause of the premature demise of our future omelet creators.Unless it is his breath.

They are so cute...I am so stressed about thier survival. ACK!
I have and am having computer issues so I dont know how good I will be at daily writing..
We are hoping to get some of the downed trees cut for firewood this wekend and also maybe some preliminary work on the steps. The guy came to measure doors today..We are having hem installed ebcause Marc is concerned about the way the doors fit..our exterior doorways were put in without much thought..it is almost like someone threw a dart, blindfolded and then cut a doorway around it with a butter knife..a dull butter knife.
I have been riding the horses daily..trying to get them back to being easy to handle so the kids can ride them..
I made chevre from all of the goat milk I had piling up and that was good
My tomatoes dont seem to be doing much...of course the horses have been standing on them, maybe that is why?
have a great week

Friday, June 08, 2007

we are preparing for chickens.
Last summer our chickens perished in the heat. There were several hot days and the chickens had to stay in their pen because they had been bad about getting over to the neighbors.
And the neighbors were not pleased. Well, actually, the neighbors loved getting the fresh, organic eggs that I took over several times a week. Thier adult son raises pit bulls and was afraid the chickens would somehow hurt one of the dogs (perhaps by choking it?).
Anyway..they certainly had the right, so after 3 years of free ranging our chickens got locked up in the pen and over heated.
It was sad.
I guess that I will clip wings this time, altho with the preditors we have it seems unfair...I do know that when the afternoon temps go over 100 I am releasing the chickens to the yard..This is not a subdivision..it is mostly acreage..and they have chickens on the OTHER side..I don't know..I try really hard not to bother people but sometimes...
Anyway.
So we are getting 25 females and 2 males..Barred Rocks. I really like heritiage breeds and want to use them when possible. Barred rocks are excellent egg layers and since they will (hopefully ) breed we should also have fresh organic chicken. That will be a new experience for me, I am thinking that they will go to a nearby town to be butchered, plucked and bagged for 2.00 each. Huck/Thoreau says he will butcher them but I am not sure he has the stomach for it.
So...a busy weekend. We are a host house for a couple of kids from Uganda who are singing in our church this Sunday..then the chickens come in early monday and I have an appointment for a check up (yes another one) at the Veterans Hospital a little later on monday.
I will so be glad to have chickens again. They should start laying in time for holiday baking. With 25 of them I guess I will be giving eggs for CHristmas gifts.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

I got my new Victorian Homes today in the mail..and all I can say is...
Page 39!!!
If you don't get it in the mail..pick it up att he store..and if you cant do that..you are out of luck because they have a lousy website.
O.k..time for some goal setting. Ready?


By the end of summer:
1. I need to finish the faux grain down stairs..I only have about 5 more feet to do..how pitiful is that.
2 Finish the hall bathroom.
tile around shower
countertop
trim
new door on closets
trim around mirror
paint ceiling?
Sew curtains
install new sink
install new faucets/toilet flush thing in brass color
3.Finish Office Bathroom
patch
paint
paint trim

That really isnt that much but since it seems to take me forever to do anything I am stopping there for now.

It has rained so much lately that out entire property is mud..the floors are covered in silt and the horses are knee deep in the nasty stuff. WEll not really..but it is muddy. It is hard not being depressed by the lack of money, and all the stuff that needs to eb done, and the fact that we really cant afford the horses but noone really wants to buy them either. I keep praying that if we are supposed to be here things would break and we could do what needed to be done ad if we are supposed to move to the farm in maine things woul d break and we would be released to go...I am so tired of feeling like I am treading water.
Whine whine whine....