Friday, March 30, 2012
To work for a living or to live for working?
This is a topic that I have struggled with over the years, my work ethic has been programmed to do a job right and work until it is done. This often has me working long hours, I end up exhausted sometimes needing a day or two to physically recover. This can't possibly be good for me, but I had a deadline, one that I often set myself. I am not alone in this, many Americans work 60 + hour workweeks. So many of them are salaried employees and it is expected of them even though they are only paid for 40 hrs. It is so frustrating, everybody says "Oh the poor people in China can't earn a living wage" have you looked at yourself lately. Working one or more jobs to make ends meet, in an economy that even before the bubble burst in '08 was geared to sap you of your financial gain. By the time you pay for cable, internet, cellphone, car insurance, Starbucks and rent you are in the hole. With one broke down car or high utility bill away from ruin, your job gets shipped off to China because paying you $10/hr is cost prohibitive. What do you think will happen when our country no longer is able to produce anything because we shipped it all away to other countries. Will we be a land of self righteous paupers who are too good to get our hands dirty, yet have no appreciable skills to market. The answer I think is to become a producer yourself, make your own food, even if it's just a little. Make goods you can sell out of a cheap relatively available material. There is always a niche for goods out there, find one and exploit it for your families benefit. Repair broken possessions rather than buy new all the time, or spend the extra money to buy a quality version that will stand the test of time. In short work for yourself first and your boss second.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Spring brewing
I used Cote de Blanc yeast and the wine came out heady and sweet, with a mead like mouth feel. I also added ginger to my recipe and boiled all of the ingredients in a mesh bag (available at midwest) and for the sugar I used brown C & H cane sugar. 2lbs / gal. After an appropriate amount of time 3 months I think, I killed off the yeast and used a clarifier then bottle aged thew wine.
My next beer is a high gravity kit from midwest called a Power Pack Porter. It's a deliciously thick porter with a high alcohol content, it has about 9 lbs of fermentables in it. The down side is I have to wait 6 months for that one, the upside, it'll be really tasty!
My next beer is a high gravity kit from midwest called a Power Pack Porter. It's a deliciously thick porter with a high alcohol content, it has about 9 lbs of fermentables in it. The down side is I have to wait 6 months for that one, the upside, it'll be really tasty!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Generations
I have heard a statement, though I can't recall the source. That given a large enough disaster learning and technology would be lost in a single generation. Leaving our descendants in a quasi stone age of technological discards and crude amenities. Sounds terrible right? Your kids would know some things to help them, but their kids wouldn't have a full enough education to repair or utilize our current technology properly. Common everyday knowledge would be lost and they would have to reinvent it or discover something new.
I am sorry to say that this has already happened! The current craze is to "Go Green" or "Eat Local", "Seasonal menus". Your grandparents and theirs before them for generations all knew that stuff. They knew how to cook healthy meals that would feed their families, sometimes for days. The skills and everyday knowledge about the natural world that our grandparents had, died with our parents.
My little family wants to homestead, live closer to the land, grow some food and raise some livestock for meat. We probably won't have pigs or cows, but we just ordered chickens for eggs and meat. I discovered that my mother used to help pluck and butcher chickens, she told me that she hated the plucking. She never told me anything about chickens growing up, we got it from KFC or had it on the grill. In the "modern world" there was no room for those skills, fast food, pre-made dinners all trumped raising food. We had a small garden when I was a kid, but it never grew much and we certainly never canned anything.
I intend to relearn those lost skills, thankfully there has been a great deal put down in books, sadly that takes a long time to find, read, try, and perfect those skills unaided. My wife and children will be there learning along side me. Hopefully my children will teach their children and so on so that the skills I am so patiently relearning don't get lost again.
I Urge those who read this to go out and find a lost skill and preserve it in yourself and your family. Thus armed they will have a chance in a world where gas is too expensive for all but the wealthy and fresh preservative and chemical free food is out of reach.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
What's the matter...Chicken?
We have decided good or ill to pursue raising chickens. We had a brief experience with chickens when we rented from a farmer and his coop was close to our dwelling. We picked eggs, fed and watered them on occasion and helped butcher. So armored with that brief experience and a liberal application of research we want to get some chicks for meat and eggs. We have settled on "Black Austrolorps" for our egg layers as they are a gentle friendly breed and are good for eating also. The "Meat" birds are a hybrid from http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html that grow quite fast without suffering (Hopefully) the disabilities of commercially grown chickens. They are called "Cornish Roasters" and reach 4 to 6 pounds on 8 to 10 weeks.
We debated for awhile how to keep them, penned or free range. Each has it's drawbacks, messy birds and risk of disease for penned birds and predator losses for free range. So far we are leaning heavily towards free range as I believe I can build a predator resistant coop for night time. Having free ranging birds would also hopefully reduce the bug population around here. Our landlords have horses and it doesn't seem to matter how far away they are, the flies are ever present. Last year there were so many grass hoppers eating our garden, we could stand to have a little grasshopper feast as well. As for the penn/coop itself, I am thinking of building a geodesic dome and covering 3/4 with chicken wire and the rest with plywood. That way if we are going to be gone or there is bad weather, the chickens can be penned for a short time. The plans for the dome come from this site: http://www.geo-dome.co.uk/ If you end up using his calculator tools remember he's British and the tools are in Millimeters. I will be posting pictures of the coop once built and chicks once we get them.
Spring into action
So this weirdling weather while beautiful has some sinister foreshadowing. We failed to get much snow which provides valuable water when melting to the land as a whole. If the weather stays so nice and sunny with no appreciable rain fall there won't be a lot of crop growing going on either. To get on my soapbox for a moment western mono-crop farming when combined with a drought equals dust bowl! All of the chemical fertilizers, pesticides and GMO crops leach the land of valuable nutrients, depleting the soil. Once it gets dry it's gonna blow away. That means that people are going to have to fend for themselves and become producers, even if you grow food in buckets on your deck. So stop watering your lawn and start growing food so you have it when you need it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Quick update
Quick and dirty update, so we stayed 6 months at that first apartment, (North town) we hated it. Parking was terrible the neighbors had domestics all night long or smoked up all the time. The place was to drafty the smoke would come across the hall and waft under our door, sucked! Then we moved back to the west end of the cities to another apartment (coachman) and stayed for a year. My Son Jameson was born November 12th 2010 adding a delightful little boy to our family. Coachman raised the rent at the end of our lease so we made a deal with the cottage crew, I remodeled a small mother - in - law apt they had in their downstairs and we moved in. It's cozy, sometimes too much so but we get along. We tried getting financing for a new house of our own but things fell apart at the last min so we are waiting a couple months for a second try through a different program. In the mean time we are beginning our journey down the road of self sufficiency. I have begun home brewing, we have sworn off fastfood and make good food from scratch and are learning what we can to become producers rather than consumers. We just got our seeds started for an ambitious garden this summer, and are hoping to try chickens. I have a bunch of projects planned for this summer so I will keep posting about them here. First project is to build a geodesic dome greenhouse for our plants, I hope to be building parts by the weekend.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Oops...I missed a few months
I will begin posting here again shortly, I have all new adventures to relate. Many hopefully happier than those in the past. Stay tuned and tell your friends to check out Tales of the Rom Baro as I discuss homesteading, crafting, home brewing and more.
~The Rom Baro
Sunday, December 13, 2009
That damned house (xposted from FB)
Sometimes I really miss our house. I'm trying to figure out my feelings about it all - do I miss the house? Do I miss the town? Do I miss my friends there?
Well, the answer is: yes. I miss it all, in varying degrees depending on the day. It's hard to start on the path of a Dream (no matter how much I might now philosophically believe that the Dream is a load of BS they sell us to keep the economy going) and to start making a house into a home and then have it all just go away.
That home is where Chris began his first business. That is where some of the amazing wood working he did was completed. There were nights when he would stay up working until midnight, sleep two hours, then go back out to the shop to get it all done in time. Sometimes I'd go out to the shop when there was putzy work I could help him with - sanding, or holding the other end of something to make it easier for him to glue things up.
And that home is where I was when I had my miscarriage. I sat on the old couch we had for a few days just crying and crying. And I can still remember where everything was in the room, where the videos were kept that I watched to help distract my mind from all of those lost dreams.
That town is where we lived when I found out I was pregnant with Morgan. We walked down to the Dairy Queen (we tried really hard to make that a rule - no driving! We had to walk there and back!) and shared a Peanut Buster Parfait and I told Chris we were expecting again.
And the bathroom - I remodeled the bathroom after my miscarriage as a project I could do to feel like I had created something. Granted, I did it on a $50 budget using left over paint that subsequently stained the linoleum and bath tub, but I still was proud of the fact that I did it myself.
And I can still remember how the bathroom smelled in the heat of the summer when I was sooo incredibly wracked with morning sickness, and how the mineral smells in the water made it even worse. Nothing like pregnancy nose, right?
The hardwood floors in the living room that we were so excited to find beneath the carpeting. After living there a year we finally pulled up the carpet and refinished the main level floor. It wasn't perfect, but it was still beautiful and added a richness to the room.
Oh, and the fireplace! We'd light a fire, put on a record (yes, we have a large record collection, and we love to play them as often as we can), and sit back in our armchairs, dreaming about the future. The dogs would curl up by our feet and life was blissful in those moments.
On the topic of records: Cat Stevens' Tea for the Tillerman and Queen's Night at the Opera. Those were the two most played records at that house. Listening to them I can almost hear the fire crackle, feel the cool hardwood beneath my feet, and smell sweet cherry wood burning (benefit of being married to a wood worker - exotic kindling!).
The garden we had the summer after Morgan came. I would go out back and place her on a blanket and spend an hour or so weeding the garden. Once she figured out crawling it took considerably longer to get through a row of plants, with having to go after her ever few minutes! I made a lot of zucchini bread that fall.
My neighbors - I miss them! Cecil and Terri left before Morgan was born, and they were so excited to have a "granddaughter" (they have only sons and grandsons). They used to decorate their yard with a flood of lights every Halloween and Christmas, and I would sometimes just sit on the radiator by the window and watch the lights sparkle. They are kinds souls and immediately took us in as if we were family.
Our other neighbors, Patti and Dean and the kids - I spent a lot of time at Patti's with her daycare, and sometimes just so I could speak to another adult during the day! She was and has been a kind, supportive and welcome shoulder to lean on. Very few people know as much about the harder parts of our lives the past few years than she does.
And, for a while, I FINALLY had the chance to live in the same zip code as Ashlee. That was the first time ever! We had our Thursday get-togethers where I'd go to her house and we'd "work" - before we had kids, we'd sometimes get some office work done between chatting and gossiping, and once the children arrived we'd just run interference for each other while we chatted and gossiped. Well, mostly I'd run interference while she made food that I'd later get to eat. I'm pretty cheap - a pan of pumpkin bread and I'm yours!
In the midst of all the darkness we went through this year, I didn't give myself the chance to celebrate the wonderful times we had in that home we'd made. And we had plans... boy did we ever have plans! Our kitchen was in a state of planning the whole time we lived there :P It would have been amazing if we'd been able to finish it all. But we did what we could with the resources we had, and while we lived there, we had a pretty good time.
We're moving on. We're doing well. We're in a new place, but it's not yet home. It may be, but then again, it may always remain another resting place on the road to a new home. We'll see. I know in my heart that we have the biggest home anyone could ask for - friends and family from coast to coast who have showed us love and generosity when we were down. That much I am grateful for, and I cherish it more than I can say. But I do long for finding that sense of home again. I have my family, but I sometimes still feel lost in the world. I confided in a friend recently that it's difficult to be looking for an object and only be able to recall that it used to reside on the top of a dresser that we no longer own in a home that is no longer ours. It's hard to rest your head when you don't know where home is.
Well, the answer is: yes. I miss it all, in varying degrees depending on the day. It's hard to start on the path of a Dream (no matter how much I might now philosophically believe that the Dream is a load of BS they sell us to keep the economy going) and to start making a house into a home and then have it all just go away.
That home is where Chris began his first business. That is where some of the amazing wood working he did was completed. There were nights when he would stay up working until midnight, sleep two hours, then go back out to the shop to get it all done in time. Sometimes I'd go out to the shop when there was putzy work I could help him with - sanding, or holding the other end of something to make it easier for him to glue things up.
And that home is where I was when I had my miscarriage. I sat on the old couch we had for a few days just crying and crying. And I can still remember where everything was in the room, where the videos were kept that I watched to help distract my mind from all of those lost dreams.
That town is where we lived when I found out I was pregnant with Morgan. We walked down to the Dairy Queen (we tried really hard to make that a rule - no driving! We had to walk there and back!) and shared a Peanut Buster Parfait and I told Chris we were expecting again.
And the bathroom - I remodeled the bathroom after my miscarriage as a project I could do to feel like I had created something. Granted, I did it on a $50 budget using left over paint that subsequently stained the linoleum and bath tub, but I still was proud of the fact that I did it myself.
And I can still remember how the bathroom smelled in the heat of the summer when I was sooo incredibly wracked with morning sickness, and how the mineral smells in the water made it even worse. Nothing like pregnancy nose, right?
The hardwood floors in the living room that we were so excited to find beneath the carpeting. After living there a year we finally pulled up the carpet and refinished the main level floor. It wasn't perfect, but it was still beautiful and added a richness to the room.
Oh, and the fireplace! We'd light a fire, put on a record (yes, we have a large record collection, and we love to play them as often as we can), and sit back in our armchairs, dreaming about the future. The dogs would curl up by our feet and life was blissful in those moments.
On the topic of records: Cat Stevens' Tea for the Tillerman and Queen's Night at the Opera. Those were the two most played records at that house. Listening to them I can almost hear the fire crackle, feel the cool hardwood beneath my feet, and smell sweet cherry wood burning (benefit of being married to a wood worker - exotic kindling!).
The garden we had the summer after Morgan came. I would go out back and place her on a blanket and spend an hour or so weeding the garden. Once she figured out crawling it took considerably longer to get through a row of plants, with having to go after her ever few minutes! I made a lot of zucchini bread that fall.
My neighbors - I miss them! Cecil and Terri left before Morgan was born, and they were so excited to have a "granddaughter" (they have only sons and grandsons). They used to decorate their yard with a flood of lights every Halloween and Christmas, and I would sometimes just sit on the radiator by the window and watch the lights sparkle. They are kinds souls and immediately took us in as if we were family.
Our other neighbors, Patti and Dean and the kids - I spent a lot of time at Patti's with her daycare, and sometimes just so I could speak to another adult during the day! She was and has been a kind, supportive and welcome shoulder to lean on. Very few people know as much about the harder parts of our lives the past few years than she does.
And, for a while, I FINALLY had the chance to live in the same zip code as Ashlee. That was the first time ever! We had our Thursday get-togethers where I'd go to her house and we'd "work" - before we had kids, we'd sometimes get some office work done between chatting and gossiping, and once the children arrived we'd just run interference for each other while we chatted and gossiped. Well, mostly I'd run interference while she made food that I'd later get to eat. I'm pretty cheap - a pan of pumpkin bread and I'm yours!
In the midst of all the darkness we went through this year, I didn't give myself the chance to celebrate the wonderful times we had in that home we'd made. And we had plans... boy did we ever have plans! Our kitchen was in a state of planning the whole time we lived there :P It would have been amazing if we'd been able to finish it all. But we did what we could with the resources we had, and while we lived there, we had a pretty good time.
We're moving on. We're doing well. We're in a new place, but it's not yet home. It may be, but then again, it may always remain another resting place on the road to a new home. We'll see. I know in my heart that we have the biggest home anyone could ask for - friends and family from coast to coast who have showed us love and generosity when we were down. That much I am grateful for, and I cherish it more than I can say. But I do long for finding that sense of home again. I have my family, but I sometimes still feel lost in the world. I confided in a friend recently that it's difficult to be looking for an object and only be able to recall that it used to reside on the top of a dresser that we no longer own in a home that is no longer ours. It's hard to rest your head when you don't know where home is.
Monday, November 2, 2009
We've set up camp
We did it. We signed a lease on an apartment. For the next year, we'll be living in one place. This is a concept that has not yet fully sunk in. The apartment is nice - for apartments in our budget, we can have two dogs, the manager is friendly, and the location is convenient to needs and friends (who are, in essence, a need).
I think I'm ready to put my head down in one place for a while. The camper was a home of sorts, but not really - it wasn't terribly baby-friendly, the plumbing only worked some of the time, and it was so very tiny that things got tight fast. It was wonderful to stay with friends for a while, but even then we were in and out in other people's territory, in a house that was also under construction.
Now all of our needs (save laundry) are on a single level. We have an oasis that is just ours. We have doors on our rooms, and a bathroom that is all our own. A kitchen with a working sink. No more need to haul water or dishes. These little conveniences really mean a lot after you've lived without.
I'm off to bed soon. I'm going to snuggle in next to my husband and enjoy the feel of being home.
I think I'm ready to put my head down in one place for a while. The camper was a home of sorts, but not really - it wasn't terribly baby-friendly, the plumbing only worked some of the time, and it was so very tiny that things got tight fast. It was wonderful to stay with friends for a while, but even then we were in and out in other people's territory, in a house that was also under construction.
Now all of our needs (save laundry) are on a single level. We have an oasis that is just ours. We have doors on our rooms, and a bathroom that is all our own. A kitchen with a working sink. No more need to haul water or dishes. These little conveniences really mean a lot after you've lived without.
I'm off to bed soon. I'm going to snuggle in next to my husband and enjoy the feel of being home.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Off the road
Last night we slept indoors.
While our RV was parked in the drive, we slept inside a warm house. Munchie and Wilderheart slept in the guest room on a twin bed, and I slept on the couch in the living room amidst a pride of kitties. And I slept very, very well.
Almost seven months after getting "on the road" we are going to be off for the winter. And five of those months were spent in one location anyway, so there was very little road seen through our front window. In fact, I'd be surprised if we put more than 300 miles on the RV in all that time.
Am I disappointed that our Free & Easy Life didn't turn out as we planned back in March? Of course not. We have had so many plans change and so many unexpected things happen in the past year that I tend to keep my mind and soul open to other possibilities.
We are blessed to have the friends and family that we do. I still ache for the connections I have back in our old home town, and I am sad that it isn't a quick drive to see my parents.
As for our new home? We are very, very blessed to have friends who have lent us a helping hand through this time. We have rebuilt old connections here, and strengthened our relationships with our performing family. It has been an incredible summer - one in which not only Wilderheart and I have grown, but our loved ones around us have grown as well. I am humbled by the kindness and generosity we've encountered.
And our Munchkin - the light of our lives - has grown a great deal, too. She is simply amazing. Motherhood is a tough job, but I can't imagine a more rewarding experience.
I'd write more but my laptop is about to run out of power. I just wanted to get in a quick update on where we are. We are safe. The snow fell on an empty camper last night. Our family is warm, our bellies remain full, and our hearts are overflowing.
While our RV was parked in the drive, we slept inside a warm house. Munchie and Wilderheart slept in the guest room on a twin bed, and I slept on the couch in the living room amidst a pride of kitties. And I slept very, very well.
Almost seven months after getting "on the road" we are going to be off for the winter. And five of those months were spent in one location anyway, so there was very little road seen through our front window. In fact, I'd be surprised if we put more than 300 miles on the RV in all that time.
Am I disappointed that our Free & Easy Life didn't turn out as we planned back in March? Of course not. We have had so many plans change and so many unexpected things happen in the past year that I tend to keep my mind and soul open to other possibilities.
We are blessed to have the friends and family that we do. I still ache for the connections I have back in our old home town, and I am sad that it isn't a quick drive to see my parents.
As for our new home? We are very, very blessed to have friends who have lent us a helping hand through this time. We have rebuilt old connections here, and strengthened our relationships with our performing family. It has been an incredible summer - one in which not only Wilderheart and I have grown, but our loved ones around us have grown as well. I am humbled by the kindness and generosity we've encountered.
And our Munchkin - the light of our lives - has grown a great deal, too. She is simply amazing. Motherhood is a tough job, but I can't imagine a more rewarding experience.
I'd write more but my laptop is about to run out of power. I just wanted to get in a quick update on where we are. We are safe. The snow fell on an empty camper last night. Our family is warm, our bellies remain full, and our hearts are overflowing.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Blues
So we have given up on the free camper, I got a chance to go and really look at it. The roof structure is all rotten, it's full of black mold and mice. It needs to be striped to the frame and rebuilt. That is way beyond where we are willing to go.
PLANS:
We had been planning to get another trailer and head south for the winter, sadly money has not been forth coming. I recently hurt my hand, and can barely use it at the moment, so future work is a problem. Dracomama is looking for a writing job so we ca get back on our feet again, that means we will probably be getting an apartment for the winter. The RV just isn't warm enough, or big enough to be snowbound with a toddler and two large dogs. We will probably have a place by Nov, and hopefuly be settling in close to some friends so we can stay social and avoid the winter blues.
THOUGHTS:
So we recently met a road family traveling on the Renaissace festival circuit. We took to them right away, as they were living on the road and had been doing it for years. They were sadly all crammed into a not very large tent, as they had lost the yurt they had been living in. Mom, dad and three kids, pretty cramped, but happy. As we have had time to get to know them and learn their story, our similarities diverged. They are running from problems in their lives, living on cash jobs so that their problems don't catchup with them. None of those are the reasons we want to be on the road, we want to travel and see what's over that hill, experience different climates. Find the piece of land that says "HOME" so we can settle down and build our lives on it! Our lives have tried to change drastically in the last couple months, we went from struggeling to maintain the "American Dream" to trying to free ourselves from it. Now free, we wanted to explore and run free, experience life differently, we found that we are still bound by our need to keep our family safe, have backup plans, money for emergencies. We don't want to find ourselves traveling in a broken down vehicle, living in a crappy tent be cause we have no recourse. We want to be able to buy that land that screams "HOME" when we find it. That means we have to live differently in the system. Work for a couple years, save a nest egg, travel when we can, eventually we will get what we want. I want my familly safe and healthy first and foremost, adventures and travel will come when it can.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Trials and tribulations
So the plumbing in the borrowed RV is fixed, and we are once again self contained!!! We do not however have the title for the new Trailer, and no money to fix it if we did. I think all the people with money went on vacation this month. Work dropped off to nil and we had to use up our savings, back to square one. At this point, we are going to save up the required fix it money, and if the title is not available, we'll buy something ourselves. We appreciate our friends giving us the trailer, but I'm not touching it unless we own it. Needless to say we are frustrated. On the other hand, the borrowed RV is for sale, the owner apparently liked having his yard back. We still want a trailer, as this is a little on the small side for a growing family. Worst case scenario, we can buy this really cheap and resell when we have what we want. We basically have this thing on permanent loan, so I doubt we'll have to goto those lengths.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Patch work
Have we mentioned that our current RV has been without indoor plumbing since late May? No? Well, it has. Whee!
There was a crack in the septic (apparently a previous patch that unpatched itself) and in anticipation of getting the new camper up and running, we just haven't bothered to fix it.
However, after two months of no indoor plumbing - which means walking into our Dear Friends' house e-v-e-r-y time we want to wash a spoon, get water to boil noodles, or use the bathroom - we have given in and decided to patch the septic.
I can almost hear the sound of running water just anticipating this change!
Doing dishes! Washing my hand! Peeing! OH, the simple things in life bring the most joy!!
There was a crack in the septic (apparently a previous patch that unpatched itself) and in anticipation of getting the new camper up and running, we just haven't bothered to fix it.
However, after two months of no indoor plumbing - which means walking into our Dear Friends' house e-v-e-r-y time we want to wash a spoon, get water to boil noodles, or use the bathroom - we have given in and decided to patch the septic.
I can almost hear the sound of running water just anticipating this change!
Doing dishes! Washing my hand! Peeing! OH, the simple things in life bring the most joy!!
A note on the safety of our family
We do have a plan. We always have a plan. As much as Wilderheart and I love spontaneity, when it comes to our family's well-being, we thrive on planning.
Unfortunately, in the world of self-employment, paychecks tend to be more... spontaneous. And plans must constantly be rewritten as circumstances change.
We have weathered a great many changes in the past year. Last year this time, Munchkin and I spent a lot of our time weeding our garden, harvesting vegetables and watching traffic pass by out in front of the house. We took family trips to the lake, visited family and friends for summer cook outs, and had a relatively low-stress existence. We could see the dust cloud of uncertainty on the horizon, but I don't think that either of us truly knew how far things would spiral or what tough choices we would be faced with making.
Having just written that, however, I do have to laugh at the concept of "tough choices." Wilderheart and I have never had to chose who would go without dinner so our child could eat. We have never had to chose who will move a thousand miles away for work while the other tries to eek out an existence alone. We have been blessed over and over, and know little of true suffering.
When it comes to the adventure we are currently enjoying, we do have a plan. We have benchmarks and limits and structure to this plan. We will not abandon everything and go willy-nilly off the deep end. Through our great deal of experience having plans go awry, we have B-Z in back-up plans. We put Munchie's welfare first above all and our family's safety second. Our sense of adventure and free-spirited prancing across the countryside is somewhere down on the list, but it would certainly never trump #1 and #2. Ever.
And quite frankly, I would and do take great offense to anyone who would even bring that into question. I am Munchie's Mother. I AM Dracomama. You don't want to see the Dragon come out. It is my privilege to provide her with safety and comfort and entertainment and knowledge. I am blessed to have her in my care.
No decision about our existence will be made without taking Munchie's well-being into account. ABOVE ALL.
Unfortunately, in the world of self-employment, paychecks tend to be more... spontaneous. And plans must constantly be rewritten as circumstances change.
We have weathered a great many changes in the past year. Last year this time, Munchkin and I spent a lot of our time weeding our garden, harvesting vegetables and watching traffic pass by out in front of the house. We took family trips to the lake, visited family and friends for summer cook outs, and had a relatively low-stress existence. We could see the dust cloud of uncertainty on the horizon, but I don't think that either of us truly knew how far things would spiral or what tough choices we would be faced with making.
Having just written that, however, I do have to laugh at the concept of "tough choices." Wilderheart and I have never had to chose who would go without dinner so our child could eat. We have never had to chose who will move a thousand miles away for work while the other tries to eek out an existence alone. We have been blessed over and over, and know little of true suffering.
When it comes to the adventure we are currently enjoying, we do have a plan. We have benchmarks and limits and structure to this plan. We will not abandon everything and go willy-nilly off the deep end. Through our great deal of experience having plans go awry, we have B-Z in back-up plans. We put Munchie's welfare first above all and our family's safety second. Our sense of adventure and free-spirited prancing across the countryside is somewhere down on the list, but it would certainly never trump #1 and #2. Ever.
And quite frankly, I would and do take great offense to anyone who would even bring that into question. I am Munchie's Mother. I AM Dracomama. You don't want to see the Dragon come out. It is my privilege to provide her with safety and comfort and entertainment and knowledge. I am blessed to have her in my care.
No decision about our existence will be made without taking Munchie's well-being into account. ABOVE ALL.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
New trailer at last.
We get to go clean out the new trailer tomorrow, and start cleaning up in anticipation of the repairs and changes we will be making. The rest depends on how fast the money comes in. Rv parts aren't cheap. I found a good source for scratch and dent new stuff, hopefully that will make the difference. I have up coming job that should make us enough to replace the water and waste systems in the trailer. Then we can move into it, and finish any other improvements as we go.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A sense of home
I've been feeling displaced lately. We moved the remainder of our belongings into the storage unit this weekend. Swept and cleaned the old place, then locked it up and left town.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it all. A lot happened this weekend. Unloaded two cars and a house. Rather drastic for a 48-hour span. We visited with friends, which was bitter-sweet. People we love dearly, who we won't be seeing as often as we'd like. People who have drastically impacted our lives for the better, and to whom we owe much gratitude.
I've never been one to really mourn leaving a place, but I suppose most of the time we've left with a firm plan and a place to move up. And now, for the first time, we've moved.. not down, not back, not up, not forward. We've just moved to a whole new reality, really. We parted with SO MUCH "stuff." We pared down to what really mattered, and without those blankets of "stuff" around us, I feel a bit naked sometimes. Not that I need all that stuff, nor do I want to be burdened by it again. It's just so very different. I haven't had this little in so long. I used to be able to move from apartment to apartment in the back of a station wagon, then a van, then a small moving trailer, then a truck, then a semi.... now, with three of us, we're back to only really needing a small U-Haul. It's so very unconventional, yet so very practical.
I am ever-grateful for the friends we have been staying with these past few months. They have offered us security, family, fun, love, comfort, a bathroom ;), and so much more. I doubt I'll ever think of them as anything but my family. We have gained brothers, sisters, nephews, and kittens :)
It's amazing to be going through this process of moving onward. It is not a simple process, but it is a life-altering one, and I think our family is approaching it in the healthiest way we can: together, with integrity and love.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it all. A lot happened this weekend. Unloaded two cars and a house. Rather drastic for a 48-hour span. We visited with friends, which was bitter-sweet. People we love dearly, who we won't be seeing as often as we'd like. People who have drastically impacted our lives for the better, and to whom we owe much gratitude.
I've never been one to really mourn leaving a place, but I suppose most of the time we've left with a firm plan and a place to move up. And now, for the first time, we've moved.. not down, not back, not up, not forward. We've just moved to a whole new reality, really. We parted with SO MUCH "stuff." We pared down to what really mattered, and without those blankets of "stuff" around us, I feel a bit naked sometimes. Not that I need all that stuff, nor do I want to be burdened by it again. It's just so very different. I haven't had this little in so long. I used to be able to move from apartment to apartment in the back of a station wagon, then a van, then a small moving trailer, then a truck, then a semi.... now, with three of us, we're back to only really needing a small U-Haul. It's so very unconventional, yet so very practical.
I am ever-grateful for the friends we have been staying with these past few months. They have offered us security, family, fun, love, comfort, a bathroom ;), and so much more. I doubt I'll ever think of them as anything but my family. We have gained brothers, sisters, nephews, and kittens :)
It's amazing to be going through this process of moving onward. It is not a simple process, but it is a life-altering one, and I think our family is approaching it in the healthiest way we can: together, with integrity and love.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Still here...
Sorry about the long break in posting.
As I posted last we were about to head to Oregon for 2 exciting weeks. The wood working class was very exciting, we learned a great deal. Port Townsend, WA where the school is is as you might guess a port town. There is also a wonderfull boat building school there, which we got to tour. There is a historic fort there, as well as many 1800's buildings, we learned that the hotel we stayed at on the waterfront was known as a seedy brothel in it's hayday. Many a sailor would get drunk there and wakeup at sea to discover they have been shanghai'd to crew some ship or another. We didn't get to explore too fully as we spent most nights designing our projects for class.
After the class we retured to southern Oregon, to Ashland and surrounding area. Our friends live in a quaint sleepy little town called Jacksonville. Which btw is where Bruce Campbell lives! I didn't see him, but I looked!! We toured the area a bit, and set to work building the first of our planned gypsy vardos. Unfortunately things were complicated early on by hard to find materials and shortages. We got plywood ordered, took 2 days to get, we had to order in clear fir for making structure, and we got lucky and found a huge pile of fir brick moulding at a recycling center, which we cut into strips and bent laminated into roofing spars. We tried like hell but we just didn't have the time to get a skin on it. We got the 4 walls framed in ontop of the floor system, and al the roofing spars bent, sanded and cut to length. We ran out of time and energy, we had been working dawn to dusk for 5 days straight. We decided to take a break and enjoy the last 2 days with our friends. We hiked through a beautiful state park full of water falls. One of our friends taught us his waterfall trick. If you stare at a waterfall and let your eyes go out of focus for awhile and the quickly look at a solid object it will jump and quaver. It made the trees all over the hillside look like they were growing before our eyes! Pretty cool trick.
We caught an obscenely early plane, made it home, and then Dracomama and Munchie were on a plane 3 days later to Alaska to visit Dracomama's sister for a week. That was a long week for both of us.
We are all home together now, obviously more has transpired since then but non of it was notable. We still haven't gotten into our new trailer, it took forever to get my last payment from the Rogers house I was working on. We just got it last week! *Indignant* I lucked out and got a great deal on a truck that needed a tiny bit of work on, the guy was selling because he thought it needed new fuel injectors, what it really needed was a tuneup. So plugs and wires and $1000.00 off the price. Just like to mention, somebody else told him it needed injectors not me! We can finally go get our trailer sometime in the next week. I have some other projects to finish up before I can start fixing on it, but just havin it will be a step in the right direction.
As for living situations, well we are not quite as self contained as we would like anymore. The waste tank has a crack in it. Made things interesting when I went to the dumpstation. Lets just say the trail I was leaving wasn't bread crumbs. So needless to say we no longer have running water and we can't use our bathroom in the middle of the night. We are still parked with the Cottage crew, they are moved in. We use their facilities for everything now, we can't cook without running inside for water or to do dishes. Having a real shower and toilet is nice but not convenient to our home. We are debating what to do for the winter, I think we both want to head away from the cottage crew as this situation wold not be feasible in the cold and snow. I might look into an RV park that would allow winter guests, people wrap their trailers and rv's in styrofoam and have LP delivered. We are also thinking of getting a 6 mo lease at an apt somewhere on the west end of the cities, we like it over here. It all depends on work really, if I can stay busy all winter long an apt would be doable. We really want to head down to New Mexico for xmas with Dracomama's brother, and stay for the worst of the MN winter in the southwest. I could probably find work there as well as here, business cards are cheap and tools would come with us in the back of the truck.
I'll keep you informed as we get our new trailer and get it livable. We'll see what the end of summer brings.
As I posted last we were about to head to Oregon for 2 exciting weeks. The wood working class was very exciting, we learned a great deal. Port Townsend, WA where the school is is as you might guess a port town. There is also a wonderfull boat building school there, which we got to tour. There is a historic fort there, as well as many 1800's buildings, we learned that the hotel we stayed at on the waterfront was known as a seedy brothel in it's hayday. Many a sailor would get drunk there and wakeup at sea to discover they have been shanghai'd to crew some ship or another. We didn't get to explore too fully as we spent most nights designing our projects for class.
After the class we retured to southern Oregon, to Ashland and surrounding area. Our friends live in a quaint sleepy little town called Jacksonville. Which btw is where Bruce Campbell lives! I didn't see him, but I looked!! We toured the area a bit, and set to work building the first of our planned gypsy vardos. Unfortunately things were complicated early on by hard to find materials and shortages. We got plywood ordered, took 2 days to get, we had to order in clear fir for making structure, and we got lucky and found a huge pile of fir brick moulding at a recycling center, which we cut into strips and bent laminated into roofing spars. We tried like hell but we just didn't have the time to get a skin on it. We got the 4 walls framed in ontop of the floor system, and al the roofing spars bent, sanded and cut to length. We ran out of time and energy, we had been working dawn to dusk for 5 days straight. We decided to take a break and enjoy the last 2 days with our friends. We hiked through a beautiful state park full of water falls. One of our friends taught us his waterfall trick. If you stare at a waterfall and let your eyes go out of focus for awhile and the quickly look at a solid object it will jump and quaver. It made the trees all over the hillside look like they were growing before our eyes! Pretty cool trick.
We caught an obscenely early plane, made it home, and then Dracomama and Munchie were on a plane 3 days later to Alaska to visit Dracomama's sister for a week. That was a long week for both of us.
We are all home together now, obviously more has transpired since then but non of it was notable. We still haven't gotten into our new trailer, it took forever to get my last payment from the Rogers house I was working on. We just got it last week! *Indignant* I lucked out and got a great deal on a truck that needed a tiny bit of work on, the guy was selling because he thought it needed new fuel injectors, what it really needed was a tuneup. So plugs and wires and $1000.00 off the price. Just like to mention, somebody else told him it needed injectors not me! We can finally go get our trailer sometime in the next week. I have some other projects to finish up before I can start fixing on it, but just havin it will be a step in the right direction.
As for living situations, well we are not quite as self contained as we would like anymore. The waste tank has a crack in it. Made things interesting when I went to the dumpstation. Lets just say the trail I was leaving wasn't bread crumbs. So needless to say we no longer have running water and we can't use our bathroom in the middle of the night. We are still parked with the Cottage crew, they are moved in. We use their facilities for everything now, we can't cook without running inside for water or to do dishes. Having a real shower and toilet is nice but not convenient to our home. We are debating what to do for the winter, I think we both want to head away from the cottage crew as this situation wold not be feasible in the cold and snow. I might look into an RV park that would allow winter guests, people wrap their trailers and rv's in styrofoam and have LP delivered. We are also thinking of getting a 6 mo lease at an apt somewhere on the west end of the cities, we like it over here. It all depends on work really, if I can stay busy all winter long an apt would be doable. We really want to head down to New Mexico for xmas with Dracomama's brother, and stay for the worst of the MN winter in the southwest. I could probably find work there as well as here, business cards are cheap and tools would come with us in the back of the truck.
I'll keep you informed as we get our new trailer and get it livable. We'll see what the end of summer brings.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Travel Fever
Not too much new going on, still working on the rogers house. Though I will be starting a new one soon. We leave for our trip to Oregon in a weeks time, we will be flying and staying with friends. I am very excited as I will be spending a week at a wood working school in northern washington learning to build gypsy vardos. Then south to Oregon for a week to build a couple vardos with friends. Draomama and Munchie will be staying in southern Oregon with friends the whole time. The dogs will be staying at the kennel while we are away, they seem to like it there. They bunk together, and get to play with other dogs.
Meanwhile, the friends we are staying with, I'll call them the cottage crew, all have the flu. We have so far avoided it. Probably helps that they haven't moved in here full time yet, and we have our own kitchen in the camper. Their little boy had a 103 fever the other day, and they took him to the hospital. He is doing better now and is home, but the rest of the family is suffering along with him. At least they are getting it out of the way all at once, instead of swapping it back and forth for weeks. This does of course delay their move-in and therefore our getting our new camper. We are still hoping to get it in June so we can get it ready to live in before the heat of the summer. The AC works in our current camper, but we will be putting in a brand new unit into the new trailer. Our borrowed camper is old and I don't trust the ac unit to work all summer. Being hot at night is one thing, but trying to get a hot restless toddler to sleep in the heat is another.
I will try and post some pictures soon, of our current parking spot and of munchie at play. Until next time.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Severing Ties
We are back at our house this weekend, bringing the last few things to storage. We left before all was done because I had work available, and we were itching for adventure. Sadly our home of the past four years has become a chore and a issue we have to deal with. It is no longer home, but a place we were tied to. We will probably be back to finish cleaning it up for the next person who dwells here, we don't want to be thought of as filthy people. Honestly though with our possessions gone and our little house in the big world waiting for us, I don't care if we come back or not. Ultimately I pity our house as it will be joining the ranks of houses vacant and untended. Some houses never come back from such a thing, though ours has good bones so hopefully the next family finds her in good order as we left her.
Enough about the old house, we have been planning what to do with our new trailer. We have yet to take possession of it, but planning never hurts. We want to remodel the interior as it needs work anyway. We will be adding a roof top air conditioning unit, a new furnace, new water and waste tanks, and new lighting. I plan on doing some woodwork inside as well, Walnut where I can afford to. There has been talk of putting in one of those floating laminate wood floors, which should be easy to install. We want to make it as vardo like as possible. For those outside the loop, a vardo is a gypsy wagon. The outside will get a paint job if we have enough cash at the end. I will post pictures once we get over to the camper again.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
TGISpring
It's been a little while since my last post. The job is going well, cleaning up so all the changes start looking good. Have a few more things to tackle, should be pretty close to done by the end of next week.
We are going to shift locations next week also, we'll be moving our little house in the big world to stay with some friends at their new abode. Change of scenery will be nice. Big news! Our friends that are letting us boondock are giving us their travel trailer. It's 10 feet longer than our current home, such space, Drool! They are using it for storage at the moment, but will be moving into their new home soon. Then we'll have to renovate the interior, there is some minor water damage, and it is severely dated. A little custom wood working and some new light fixtures and we have our new gypsy home. We have accidentally begun calling it "The Vardo". On the outside it's a trailer, inside...Gypsy Paradise. Hopefully all the moving goes well, and by the time we get back from our trip to Oregon, we should be working on our new home, and living in it by early June.
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