March came in like a lamb....

We made it through December, January, and February! March came in like a lamb, no snow falling, a windy, but sunny day. So far today, I tried to pay my car payment, but the website is down. I fixed the Flor tiles that needed new tapes, let dogs in and out several times and kept the home fires burning. We have had some trouble with Herman and Scout spraying in the house, so I decided to make some belly bands for them. Scout’s is brown flowered corduroy and Herman’s is a red cotton print. I had some leftover Velcro, flannel pads and the fabric, so this project was free! Scout wasn’t too sure about his, however now he is now laying calmly on the chair, Herman however has been running all over the house in protest. The problem with dachshunds is they are shaped like a barrel so anything wrapped around them will slide eventually. Herman farts when he is stressed, so this has been fun.


I ordered my chickens yesterday. They will be here the first week of April. I ordered an assortment of layers since I don’t know much about chickens yet. We will be buying replacements every year, so hopefully I will have a favorite breed next year when we order new chickens.

We have decided to buy pigs this spring for meat. I found a great book called “Living With Pigs”, it had a ton of information on getting started as well as explaining the benefits of raising pigs. They like to forage so it will be a great way to clear some of the back land for corn next year. I still want a cow, but we need to build a shelter for it, and probably improve the pasture, so getting one may not be practical this year.

This winter has been an experience. I have felt secluded at times, and although I was concerned about falling into depression, I really haven’t. Skills I have gained are bread baking, making very tasty though inexpensive meals, and learning to bounce back when things don’t go as expected. Last week, a stack of my fiesta dishes fell off the shelf. They are pretty heavy, and it was my fault for overloading the shelf. I admit I did cry over broken dishes. It took me quite awhile to accumulate them, and with money being tight, it will be awhile before I get more to replace them, but they are just dishes and so I am over it. I rearranged the shelves and found space for some other things I had forgotten, like my food processor.

I am looking forward to warmer weather, but with over three feet of snow, and more expected tomorrow, it will probably be awhile before we see some.

Winter 2011 - halfway?

Wow! It has been over a month since I have written to this blog. Winter has been a little harder than I would have imagined. Gas prices here have been high, $ 3.25 - $3.29 a gallon. This makes things more difficult because we have a Jeep Liberty Renegade, which gets about fifteen miles per gallon, and we live about seventeen miles from either town. That is over a gallon each way. In St. Louis, you'd just go out to the grocery, never really considered all the factors involved since there were tons of stores just a half mile away. Now, if you just need milk, one has to think " do I really want to spend over ten dollars just to buy milk?" This leads to less trips to "town", Kevin tends to pick up things from the grocery when he goes to town to substitute teach. I don't really mind most of the time, but sometimes when he comes home from school, and if he has worked 2-3 times that week, I depend on him more for social interaction. We have both always had our own lives, so sometimes the dependency is hard for both of us. He'll come home, eat dinner and fall asleep early, and sometimes I resent the social isolation. I am thinking of maybe getting a job, and have put in a few applications.
I went to Florida from January 14th - 25th. It was fun spending time with daughter Sarah and her family. We went to Miami, and also to a local beach, it was in the high 70's to low 80's and very pleasant. I loved getting to know my youngest grandson Elliott, as well as having fun with my two older grandchildren, Tristen and Claudia. It was a very nice break, I came home to -14 temperatures and stepped into a snowbank when getting out of the car. Welcome home. It was nice to be in my home again though, I missed Kevin and the pups.
Last night, we had dinner with some friends and neighbors, it was nice to see people, and I realize that we all have similar feelings at times. We have a small group who get together once a month or so, it is good to know these people are around, and that if I really wanted to, I could go visit. I have a Scion, which is not really a Winter car. We have a wedding reception to go to in a couple of weeks, and we did get out to the movie theater Thursday nite. We combined, grocery store, dinner out at the local diner, and a movie at the local theater. It was nice, and our movie theater has $3.50 seats on Thursday night. We will likely do this once a month or so.
I am still pretty happy with my decision to live in the country. I have planned my garden and have been reading books on raising animals. I decided that we are going to start with chickens, shoals to raise for pork, a cow or goats for dairy and a very large vegetable garden. We will likely start with the chickens maybe next month as it takes them about six months to start laying. My friend Deb says they raise their chicks in a plastic bin on the kitchen table. I think we will do the same, but maybe in the spare bedroom. We may buy a few already laying chickens in the Spring from the Amish just to have eggs sooner. I have debated the cow vs. goats over and over, I would like a cow, so it may be awhile before we do dairy.
We have a few more weeks or a couple more months of Winter, so I am sure our plans will eventually come together. I am proud of both of us for developing the skills we need to make it this far.