Ever since my last post Wednesday, we have been incredibly busy. Thursday, a friend of ours with a tractor came by to look at the area he is going to till up for us into a garden. Of course I have to show him all around the property, but it turned out to be a good thing because, he spotted insulation flaking off the power line from the house to the “wash house.” So I cut the power to that as well as to the barn since there is a bunch of “DIY” wiring in there that is about 70 years old. I can see now that I am going to really have to hone my handy-man skills.
Meanwhile, I’ve got one of my trucks, a 1992 Ford Ranger up for sale, and throughout the day folks are stopping by to look at it. I’m not having any luck yet negotiating a price, but I’m confident it will sell soon. I’m also going to sell off my other truck, an F250. We’ll still have a Chevy Tahoe which can carry our entire family plus pull a trailer. We made this decision because we need money for start up costs and now that we’re even closer to my fire station, I’m only 6 miles from home when I’m there. It just makes sense to sell the trucks.
We had a pleasant surprise though. The Hammonds of My Dad & Me Family Farm stopped by to see us. We’ve been buying milk, eggs, and other produce from them for about a year. They have been incredibly open and sharing with us about the challenges and rewards of farming. I don’t know why it meant so much to me that they stopped by, but it did and I hope they will again when they can.
Katie has been hard at work painting and scrapping wall paper. I don’t know who hate wallpaper more, her or me. Okay, probably her since she has scraped most of it. While I was outside unloading some materials from my trailer, James, the 5 year old runs outside and with eyes as big as saucers exclaims, “Mommy got scratched really bad!” So I hurry inside, expecting to see a major flesh wound. I find her sopping up a mess of paint on the floor and I ask, “Are you OK?” “Yes” she replies with a great deal of irritation. “James told me were got scratched really bad.” “NO, I said I got distracted. That’s why I spilled this freakin’ paint.” “let’s try putting something under the paint can.” I said. Then I grabbed the old real estate sign I had removed from the front yard and put it under the can. Another problem was that she was walking around with a loaded paint brush. So I found an empty jug, cut the top off and then poured some paint in it so she could carry it around. Later, I come back in to find her rolling paint, with a roller on a 8 foot pole. I wish I had a photo of this scene, as it was one of the funniest things I’ve caught her doing, painting from the middle of the room! “Good Lord, what are you doing?” “I needed a roller and this was the only one I could find.” she replied. The pole was more or less permanently attached with roof coating, so I took it from her without another word, grabbed saw and cut the pole in half. “Here you go.” I told her as i handed her the modified paint roller. We stayed until dusk and when we got home, we were all beat.
Yesterday was more of the same; painting, scraping, and trying to keep kids occupied. I caught David, the 7 year old, intently studying some of the questionable wiring at the barn. I just stopped and watched him as he followed a wire from one light fixture to another. He then started trying to clamp the ends of some jumper cables together, so I asked, “What are you doing?” “Trying to find out why these lights don’t work.” “I cut off the power.” I told him.
It was time to give him something constructive to do.
So he and James got to pick up limbs.
We now have two rabbits and four chickens on the farm. Aster and Rose are the American Chinchilla Rabbits, and then we have three RIR hens and a Wellsummer rooster.
I just hope I predator proofed their stall and pen well enough. I reckon I’ll find out in the morning.
