Ain't It Odd!

Them weather people sure do git things wrong! They been sayin' we'd just have temp'tures in the mid-70's, but we've been out-doin' that by ten or twenty degrees! And how 'bout that there rain? We h'ain't got none of that hardly!

Ferget them thar weather persons! I'll just go out an' look at th' sky when I wanna know the weather!

What's Been Goin' On

There is a certain amount satisfaction that comes from knowing you did a job as well as you could. However, there is also a certain amount of trepidation that comes from wondering if you did that job well enough, even though you did your best. Obviously, I know something about this. Well, I mowed the yard today. Nobody has said that I didn't do well, but I don't think it looks very good. Anything would have made it look better than it did though. It was the first cut of the season.

We put up some sort of protection cloth over the broccoli and cabbages down at the garden. It will hopefully keep the worms and butterflies off. We kind of used the same design as our mini-greenhouses except that the "utensil wire" (Luke's phrase, he meant high tensile wire) went directly into the ground and we held the cloth down with bricks.

Speaking of the mini-greenhouses, we are having some rather major seed-starting problems. Although we have sort of successfully conquered the mold (if you don't look too closely) the soil blocks have completely dried out. We are currently combating this by soaking them in one to two inches of water.

Quick update on Clarabelle: She is still leaking some, though not nearly as often or as heavily as before. She hates the lead rope. I mean she really hates it! After studying (standing in) the place where we have been handling Clarabelle we have decided that we will probably have to pour concrete there.

Last night we went, for the first time since we "quit", back to the Pickn' Parlor. It was odd not having to wash dishes, make sandwiches, fill up drinks, or buss tables. I enjoyed myself as much as possible though. Everyone was glad to see us back, and "the crowd went wild" when Claire sang her rendition of "Blue Moon of Kentucky!"

Oh, this morning I finally, after three years or more, connected a sound to its creature! The llama has a very unusual sound. It sounded to me something like a hoarse turkey-peacock combination. I found this out when Lily chased it. Yes, she is still very bad. I'm beginning to believe the old saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" only our version would be "you can't teach an old dog to obey." She's going to have to start showing some progress regularly, or I afraid her demise might be near.

This is a much longer post than I meant for it to be!

We Started

Lily has been introduced to the shock collar. She was traumatized the first day though. We had to set the stimulation all the way up, and she still didn't obey it. She was, to say the least, eager to get away from Mama (the torturer). When she got up to the house she hid under the Mule. Kyle was filling it up, and he spilled some died diesel on her. Mama further tortured her by giving her a bath. Yesterday went much better. We kept her on a leash and chained her up when we went out to Clarabelle. She did very well.

Some Pictures

These are in no particular order. Sorry.

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Working the shredder. We didn't have any good pictures of this.

Working in the berry patch garden. I think this one must have been posed because he didn't really work.

The pigs new house and BIG pen.

Umm... well, we didn't plant 'em last year, but it don't seem to have hurt 'em any.

Look at them sprouts!!! Only, we've got a problem. Mold. We're combating it with fresh air though. Hopefully it will work.

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I might get several more up later, but I don't have time right now.

I Guess I'll Blog Again

I don't have much time though. So it's really just going to be a quick update.

Clarabelle still hasn't had her calf yet. Lily still has a problem with chasing her (that's what ended the life of one dog, and got another sent away from here). The Tent-dwellers' have started construction. They are able to get about one beam done a day; they have eight to do. I can't wait to see this completed! It's so exciting! We have been continually working on the berry patch garden. Late last week we put lime on it, and followed that with horse manure. We didn't hill up our beds yesterday because of the rain. Instead, we used the Wiggins' chipper/shredder extensively. Elijah, Kyle, and I were out in the brush pile behind the carport/garage all day! We got six or eight bags of chipper mulch, but we still have some stuff to shred. We're planning on using the mulch on the walkway between the beds in the berry patch garden. Daddy gave us his plans to put up the last pig fence yesterday; we'll probably work on that today or tomorrow. We're getting twenty-five Barred Rock chicks next week for layers. I hope we can keep them alive; I really am wanting some of our own eggs again. Oh, our "gig" (I guess that's what you'd call it) Sunday evening went really well. The Church of God people liked to clap, and they could do it in time! That helped Kyle and me stay on the beat! (Yeah, we have a bit of a problem with that occasionally) We were exposed to a lot of new stuff there. Coming from the liturgical Methodist background, I had never experienced anything like this. During the congregational prayer(maybe during other prayers, too) everyone prayed their own prayer as loud as the pastor prayed. It seemed a bit chaotic to me, therefore it also seemed irreverent. It was fun though. The Baptist preacher who was going to give the message the next night (it was a revival) closed it with a prayer. He sounded kind of like an auctioneer to me, but Daddy said that there is a word for the rhythmic way he prayed and that it is highly prized by some. He couldn't think of the word though.

Do You Agree?

Please! Give me more feedback about my last post! I felt that it needed very much to be said, but if anyone disagrees (or agrees) please respond! Daddy said that it had the potential to be a very controversial post, and now I am afraid that I have offended some. That was not my intention. However, I do believe everything I wrote, and I felt that it was extremely important (if I hadn't, I would have kept it to myself).

A Few Thoughts on Community Living in the Country/Agrarian Setting

Living like we and the "tent-dwellers" are now has its pluses and its minuses. Mostly though, there have been pluses. Note: I did not say there have been exclusively pluses; we have had our minuses, still do as a matter of fact. We have, as a family, undergone some rather drastic changes because of this community life. The "tent-dwellers" probably have too. I don't see how anyone could possibly be in close proximity to someone who understands them, will hold them accountable, and whom they wish to continue their good image as a friend, how anyone could possibly have all that without going through some fairly dramatic changes in their daily life. So, we have, and are still, going though some of those changes.

In doing this, the community participants becomes more than long-time visitors; they become something like family. In our case the "tent-dwellers" have become closer to us than some of our extended family. It is like having more siblings and an aunt and uncle. Mr. and Mrs. "tent-dweller" have not yet become like another set of parents to me. Even though it is like having more siblings, it's not. It really does make sense; just let me explain. You may get to the point where you can freely tease and maybe even have little, petty arguments, but they are still not your siblings. They are your friends. You still want to maintain the positive look of a good friend. When you are with your family, you tend to be more relaxed and unguarded with your actions and speech. Around friends, that isn't usually the case.

This is where one of the most major pluses comes in. Although perhaps initially looking like a minus, the sanctification you gain through continually guarding yourself among your community friends will eventually spill over into your family life, making it much more agreeable and good. Still, we must not deceive our close friends. We have to be ourselves, just guarded against the disagreeable things of which, we all must admit, we have.

Guarding yourself among your friends is important, but there are other important aspects of community life that we have to continually think about. Being with the "tent-dwellers" is wonderful. The fellowship is always sweet, and the work accomplished is good and extensive. However, I believe there is a limit to how much we should be together. This is another huge thing we've had to learn. Even in a community we must still be family-focused. To be completely, or even mostly, family-focused becomes one hundred times as hard when you become part of a community. When our little community first began, we all had problems with moderation. Some of us always wanted to go up to the "tent-dwellers", that is, if we were not already up there. When I noticed this in myself, fairly quickly because I kind of anticipated it, I went to the extreme opposite. That was probably just as bad. I am now settling into a fairly comfortable middle place, but it has taken five months to get here. That's just me though. I believe privacy, personal and family (community, state, etc.), is a very important part to be able to successfully continue to do this kind of community living.

Through all this, I think I can conclude that all our initial minuses will eventually become long-term pluses if we continue to work things out. With that I conclude a few thoughts on my experience with community living.

(Tell me if that made any sense please!)

A Bit of a Whim

I found this on Jessica McDonald's blog, and I thought I'd have a bit of fun.

Take the Quiz here!

Finally!

I am ready to post again. I know it has been a while since my last post, but I have my reasons. We were unable to find our camera, and this post needed pictures (I thought). Last weekend Daddy and I made some miniature greenhouses to start our seeds in. We are both quite proud of them. The only thing we had to buy was some more clear plastic for the top; we didn't have quite enough.

We covered our chicken processing tables with black plastic to absorb warmth. Whether it is or not, I don't know, but it sure made them look professional!






Saturday evening we started making the soil blocks (no, I don't know what all we put in it) and planting the seeds. Monday evening we finished filling up our tables (those table hold a lot of soil blocks!). Yesterday Mama said that we're starting to get sprouts from some that we had planted Saturday!

Yesterday and this morning was spent doing this. No, not being lazy; we helped "anonymous" cut and drag cedar logs from over halfway up the mountain. Yep, the cabin is beginning become reality! We ladies are in pants only because you can't really climb the mountain in a skirt or dress.

Well, it's off to mandolin/fiddle lessons now. I hate being unprepared, but I haven't exactly had a whole lot of time to practice!

It's Just the Beginning...

The Brothers' mini-mill arrived today, and Mr. Brothers is busy assembling it right now. He's probably thinking about what he would be doing if the rain wasn't supposed to come in tomorrow.

When the UPS driver delivered the mill, he asked Kyle something about his mother-in-law (Grammy)! Kyle just answered "Um, that's my grandmother."

Lily might just be good for something! She treed a groundhog, and Kyle made his first kill (just one shot too!). Mr. Groundhog was eight and a half pounds, and exactly like those stuffed animals in the store!

We had to look up groundhog season (always open season, no limit) before I could publish this post.

Still No Calf

Clarabelle's udder gets bigger everyday, but she hasn't dropped yet. We are all waiting uneasily for her calf. Clarabelle got into the feed barrel last night, and we're afraid she rather gorged herself. Lily was having quite a time running her too, but we chained her up a few days ago.

Today we have been busy working in our new garden spot up by the berry patch. The Brothers' instigated it, of course. They moved the pigs, and got a couple of tillers out. We worked out there all afternoon! It was not unusual to hear lines of bluegrass songs talking about rocks or stones burst into suddenly! Once we finished, that garden spot looked better, on the top, than any other first-year garden spots I can remember (not too many, but some). We won't go into what was about 5 inches below the top.

Unusual, Unexpected, and Unprepared!

Clarabelle's going to calve soon! Any day now! Apparently the Ridings' thought that she had miscarried this past summer, but it seems now that she didn't. We are going to be working hard tomorrow to try to get the barn ready with stalls and do some of the other necessary preparations. This was quite a surprise to us because we didn't think she would calve until sometime this summer! We have to get the Lingo's up soon! Tricia Ann has to help us get started with this milking thing. We don't have a milking machine, a stall to milk her in, or even a trough to feed her in! Somehow we will make do and have things ready by the time. We will have to be ready!

Thursday

We are trying to start a new schedule that we will be able to keep once Clarabelle calves. Daddy has us waking up at 5:30 am now, and this morning it actually worked. We had breakfast on the table by 6:15 am! No, that was not scheduled, just happened. We were home from Wal-mart by 9:00 am. Not bad at all! If this Thursday had been like the past few Thursday's I would have gone directly to the stove and started the pudding for Pickn' Parlor. However, this was not like those Thursdays! Our first week off the job! I found that I really don't miss working the Pickn' Parlor as much as I thought I would. I still think it will be difficult going back as customers rather than making sure everybody's satisfied, bussing the tables, or washing dishes. It's going to be nice to have our weekends back though.

Reading back over that shows me that I didn't make my thoughts very clear, but I can't really. They aren't that clear to me right now! I think my last sentence pretty much sums up my feelings about the Pickn' Parlor though.