This and That- When You Are Down and Out

I haven't mentioned a lot of what we've been going through on this blog. That will change with this posting to let y'all know what's going on. Why we haven't started filming our YouTube videos yet and post them on our channel. It's been a while since I've even mentioned our channel. Now defunct after a two year absence of any new content. Especially after an anonymous subscriber bought us a new audio set up and still no new videos. Only the subscribers who get our newsy email each week know about three-quarters of what's been going on. Want to join us? Use the contact form in the right column and a valid email to get your copy ever Saturday-ish. Today, I'm getting personal with y'all. I'm not making excuses just telling it like it is.

Well, there are a couple of reasons for this.

Since this May, I've been fighting for my life or some semblance of a life quite literally. For now, I'm battling cancer. I've battled this beast and won four times in my past. By the Grace of God, we will beat it again. Since my seizure in July, really since my car accident in May, I haven't been able to drive. It will be July 2020 before I can do so again with no repeat in seizure activity. All late spring and summer long, it's been one medical thing after another my head, my eye, my heart, my spasticity due to my strokes, my pressure sores on my foot, my cancer returning after being gone for 26 years. I just started getting my stamina back from July only to have a pressure sore on my foot appear.

It's been a perfect storm kind of thing with me dying and being brought back to life. My body is revolting against me and I'm not recovering as fast as I used too. I'm constantly being slapped in the face that I ain't a spring chicken no more. It'll be the new year before all is said and done. I'm praying 2020 will be my return to "normalcy."

Finances have been so tight that we almost lost our homestead. We've gone through periods without electricity, and still have not filled our propane tank to cook with. So we are relying on the electric cook tops, crockpots, microwave, the grill, and a toaster oven  to cook my recipes on. Now, we have the wood stove too so it's a little bit easier. I hope to have propane before I start videoing my cooking spots again. I'm crossing my fingers, but any money we could have saved is now spent on firewood and the price went up this year.

Since May, Mel has been carrying the load by herself once again. She's even had to carry me. As a result, her seasonal depression has been a year long depressive state. Her medication has helped her not hit the suicidal/destructive state of three years ago. But her frustration level increased with taking over the finances (with my money), my health issues, and doing it all. Her once every two months jaunts into town have now become a three times a week thing. She has deemed herself unemployable because of age and attitude. She hasn't held a job for more than a week in three years.

She's writing a new program for her chicken farm record keeping so by mid 2020 she could really be making money to supplement our working capital and homestead. But programming is hardly easy, especially self taught, or without it's own frustration points. Chickens are much easier to raise than angoras rabbits. So her lack of attention won't kill them. At least she's not talking about chucking the homestead idea anymore.

The fact is we are getting older. Even though we've planned our homestead with this in mind, it's still a lot of work. We've only cleared about 1/2 an acre out of two. Trees still need to be cleared and the land terraced to be usable. What can we do when we can't afford to pay someone to do it, and we neither have the ability nor the equipment to tackle this? Both of us being transplants, still do not have "friend"/family base to fall back on, nor know enough people to ask for help. I've been so far out of the loop this year, it shows. To everyone, we've fallen off the edge of the world.

So for now, I'm combing the three pounds angora fiber, four pounds of alpaca, one pound of angora mixed fiber, and six pounds of wool into rolags for me to spin into yarn. I've got my work cut out for me in my usual fall and winter pastime activities. I'm still posting twice a week here, and once a week on my other site. There's my knitting. This winter, I'm planning on completing four sweaters and a bed throw. If I feel froggy, I'll try my hand at beading/ spinning some more art yarn. It will depend on if the muses hits me just right. There's also converting the outside rabbit hutches into quail hutches. I'm still shooting for spring.

So for now, Mel is focusing on her chicken farm. She'll be building her chicken coops and runs weather allowing. So come spring we can started in earnest on her newest venture. She's been researching hatcheries to get her base stock. She changes her mind constantly on the type of chickens she wants to raise. Americanas are a given. I'm firm about them. But RIR, Orpingtons, Barnvelders, or who knows what she'll finally decide on. She's in charge and it's her venture. I'm just funding her start-up again. They'll just have to be cheaper by the dozen.

When in life you are down and out, you better have a plan to get back up again.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Rainy Days on the Homestead

It's been raining here on the homestead. In fact, I'm thinking about building an ark. No, not really. It hasn't rained that much. Still, for the past couple of weeks, it has rained more than not.

It's great for the garden.  It's even helping replenish our spring and our creek. A real shame we didn't get the totes for our rain catchment system yet. We've had a few inches dropped on us in the past couple weeks and it's cooler. Yesterday during a break in the weather, I did a tour of the garden and pulled a few weeds. Since we mulched the beds with straw the seeds in it started to sprout. No worries, I just fed them to the rabbits. They loved it.

Speaking of rabbits, all but one rabbits eating fodder now. Keekee, a Jersey Woolie/lionhead, is the only holdout. So I'm still buying rabbit pellets. You may have heard Mel talk about her. She's an ill- tempered bunny. She'll growl and try to nip at your fingers whenever you put your hands anywhere near her. We'd sell her, but she's got such luscious fur. Three inches long and soft as any of our angoras. We can't get rid of her because of her bad temper. Nobody would want her. Everyone wants nice bunnies even us. I'd cull her but there's not enough meat on her for a meal unless I made rabbit stew with plenty of potatoes and carrots. When she's sheared, she only weighs a pound.

So what do you do on the homestead on rainy days? Not much. Most of our time is spent on the internet or watching Netflix shows. Sad isn't it? I mean other than the morning and afternoon chores of feeding and watering the animals, not much else can be done. All we want to do is curl up in the bed with a good book.

When there's  a break in the weather, we go out to the new metal structure to build the new chicken coop. But most of the time the lightning is so bad, it's not a good idea. Or driving metal fence posts or connecting fencing in the rain is not a pleasant idea for that matter. A metal roof and metal supports make excellent lightning rods.  Have you ever seen St. Elmo's fire run along a fence line? I have. It's real interesting to watch, but not when you are holding onto the fencing. But still, we try. It is slow going. The weather is putting a damper on our videos too.

 I could always cook, but without the work, we are not so hungry. I guess I could do some canning videos. Lord knows the weather has been cool enough to stand to be in the kitchen. But it means a trip to the grocery store or the farmer's market. In the rain? I don't drive unless I have to. Maybe when I have to go for my therapy session or my podiatry appointment, I'll make a quick dash into the store.  
What am I talking about!? There's nothing quick about the way I move these days. I'll be soaked by the time I get inside and then be chilled by the air conditioning in the store. I mean I'm a one handed gal who walks with a cane. Hello! There's no holding an umbrella. At times like this, I really wish my stomach tolerated coffee because most stores offer complimentary coffee. I guess I could always pray for a break in the showers. My daddy used to tell me that I need not worry about getting wet "because poop floats." Okay, he was just being ugly and didn't really mean it. Hmm, I sometimes wonder after he tells me that for the umpteenth time, I'm a product of his loin, so what does that make him?

chicks in the garden

The chicks are adolescents now. About three-quarters of their adult size. The roosters' voices are changing so soon they will begin crowing or at least they are trying to now. They utter a squawk in hoarse undertones. It'll probably be in another month or so. I can hardly wait. It's been pretty quiet since Whitie died.

But rainy days are no fun for anyone except ducks and we don't raise those. All the chicks are stuck on the front porch. The roosters start fighting. The little hens try to roost on the Camellia bushes and are getting so big that only one can fit on a branch at a time. The branches can't hold that much weight. They start yelling at others trying to get on because they will all fall to the ground.

When bored, like they always are when it rains, they'll play "king of the mountain" on the wood pile next to the dining room window. A few chicks will get over rambunctious and actually fly into the window. The dazed looks on their face when they hit are precious. "Duh! Where did that come from!" Every evening they look at me through the window as I'm on my laptop. Just as curious as can be about "that human that feeds us." They will peck at the glass or the fan to get my attention. Not that they are out of food, but just because I'm not looking at or talking to them.

 Just like every morning, they trail behind me as I go to the rabbitry building (No! we still haven't moved the rabbits). The older hens have shown them that Jo gives them goodie! The unsprouted seed from the fodder system. I've started spreading the seed in the area where their run will be. Any uneaten seed will continue to grow if they let it. Once they are in their run permanently, I'll continue the process and give them their ration of fermented seed for feeding time. It shouldn't upset their young tummies by then.

That's it for this soaking wet weekend.

Y'all have a blessed day.