Uh Oh! And Oh Nooo!

 Oh! And Oh Noo! And Murphy's law strikes again.

as you read last week, I traveled back home this week for Christmas. I took my laptop with me. The Motel- Super 8, had free wifi. My laptop worked fine. I packed in my bag for the ride home.

Arriving home, I plugged it in and got ready to answer my email that arrived while I was driving the 6 hr drive back. My keyboard died. I have no idea how this happened. I'm typing this with the on screen keyboard. It's more of a pain than typing one handed.

Because of my experience with Murphy's Law, I bought the extended warranty with this computer. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

Murphy's Law Homestead Style

Murphy's Law states, 'Whatever can go wrong... will go wrong.' I have a real hard time typing Murphy without an "e" in it as my name. I never had this problem until I named a man named "Murphey" over 25 years ago. There are actually thirteen different laws, but this is one everyone thinks of. I thought of thirteen examples of this law here so far this year.

We named ourselves the Cockeyed Homestead for good reasons. 1) We rarely do anything in a conventional way. 2) Everything we do is slightly off and most times educationally comical results. A lot of the time we, in true homesteading spirit, use what we have on hand.

In the spring, after a winter hiatus, we started doing videos.

1. Mel's computer crashed harder than either of us could fix. 
2. We planted the garden after turning it with a spade. 
3. We fenced it with a 5' 2x3 fence so the chickens wouldn't destroy it again. 
4. We bought twelve new chicks after losing 3/4 of our flock during winter. 
5. Devon, Mel's mentally retarded cat, survived all winter only to die in the spring.
6. Our video camera was drop checked one too many times and we lost filming capabilities. I bought a new video camera. 
7. The wireless microphone wouldn't work with the new camera. I bought a new microphone and it was wired. I ordered another one that took three weeks to be delivered. 
8. We released the chicks out of the brooder box to free range. They squeezed through the wire around the fence. They had a great time free ranging our newly sprouted garden. I've given up on planting green beans again until the chicks are fenced in.
9. Our randy new roosters killed one of the new hens. We figured she was injured and we hadn't noticed. I haven't had the chance to butcher all the roosters yet.
10. We bought one of those metal carports to provide shelter for our rabbitry. They couldn't deliver it. We'll have to build one on site out of pallets and cattle panels. We lost two rabbits while waiting on the company to deliver.
11. Mel tripped over her TV tray and broke her wrist. First broken bone or anything seriously wrong with her in almost 60 years. WTG Mel. When she does something...she does it well!
12. We did our yearly summer shearing of our angoras and our only unrelated buck developed and ear infection that also affected his brain.
13. We got all our camera and video stuff together and it works, but it's been raining cats and dogs quite literally. Mel found a four-week-old, feral kitten by himself on our bottom acre. Meanwhile, her wifi and ethernet cards died and her computer is yet again in the shop.

And it's only July!

How is your homestead going?

Y'all have a blessed day!