Continuing Forward

I realize that last night was a human construct of shedding the old and embracing the new. The minute after the stroke of midnight was quite similar to the minute before. But, mentally it is a moment of completion, reflection and hope. I am ready for that. As I scrolled my Facebook feed it was interesting to see who summed up their 2021 as a difficult year, who summed it up as a fantastic year and who shared a mixed review. For those of you who see it as one of your best years ever, please know that I rejoiced with you through your joy. May you continue to enjoy life's blessings in this coming year. For those who found last year to be a tribulation, I hurt with you if you allowed me a glimpse into your pain. If I didn't know of it (many of us are private when we suffer) I hope you had the support you needed. May you find the coming year to be one of rejuvenation. 

As most of you know my year was punctuated with loss - my brother and my mother-in-law. Losing them was deeply painful in and of itself. But other challenges that resulted from their deaths also started a cascade of changes that were often quite painful. As the situation settles, we are in a better place in many respects, but frankly, I am worn out. I will never "move on." I dislike that phrase and sentiment. It insinuates leaving someone behind and I can't bear the thought of distancing myself from them. But what shall I say when I've chosen to incorporate my loved ones into my remaining life? I think I'm "continuing forward." I know it's semantics but it seems important. I choose not to forget. They are a part of me. I take them with me as I continue. So in that spirit, I am hopeful that the coming year will reveal blessings on my family and friends. And I hope to share them with you as they unfold. Know that I am filled with gratitude for the friends and family who were beside me through the darkest times of last year. 

Let me catch you up on what has transpired around here over the last several months. For the first time since I retired from teaching I found I had some time on my hands. That's a good thing. Time to think and time to DO. I've done lots of both. 

We have begun to really make improvements to our homestead. Remember how last year we built a sitting area outside the kitchen door? Well, this summer we tackled the "back slab" and so much more. Let me describe our setting a little.

When we first bought this place 23 years ago - 70 acres of pasture and woods surrounded on three sides by Hagerman Wildlife Refuge - we knew where we were going to build the house. It was a lovely spot far away from neighbors that the former owners had originally selected. They had dug a well and constructed a huge house on a hill overlooking a very large pond with a barn and gazebo. During the final stages of construction on their house, it burned to the ground, leaving the barn, the electricity access, the very long driveway, the well, and the back slab which is the foundation for the huge house, partial walls and a giant, two story fireplace.  We elected to build our house in front of that enormous slab of concrete making it the best back patio ever.  It's a safe place to burn things and makes a great outdoor gun range. We used it occasionally but didn't really maximize it as much as we had envisioned when we first built. Until this year.  It was a mess, but we slowly cleaned it up. Thanks Sam, for spending a summer dedicated to doing any manual labor your dad and I asked you to do.

Our friends, the Richardsons, are mostly responsible for the slab transformation. You see, they have an above ground pool in their backyard that gets lots of use. After spending a few evenings with them, I started dreaming. And in my mind, I found the perfect place for MY above ground pool.  I spent one summer converting the resin stock tank into a small pool to see if I really wanted to proceed with a large one. I had fun in it enough to know that I was not going to be content until I had a full sized one.  And I knew just where to put it. On the back slab. So, after much cleaning, the pool is there. With a beautiful deck, sitting areas and a fire pit. And the gun range.

I briefly touched on our acquisition of meat rabbits. We have two does and one buck. Bunny Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, and Roger Rabbit. Their purpose is to breed "like bunnies" and provide us with an affordable, nutritious, accessible source of meat. So, far, they've consumed a lot of feed and care and provided us with no offspring. I am hopeful that the ladies are currently pregnant but the last time I was hopeful they were not. I do not want pet rabbits. I want a source of protein that lives a great, healthy life before I process it for my family. But, they are cute. This is Roger (L) preferring to cuddle with Jessica (R) rather than get the job done.

We've done more work on the house to be able to enjoy the great outdoors. We had covered porches added to two doors and storm doors with screens added so we can keep the doors open without inviting insects in. All of that has been amazing. Everyone loves the porches - and by everyone, that means the humans, dogs and cats. There is lots of lounging outside now. It makes the entire house just feel bigger. It's like adding two more rooms onto the house. 

We have a new dog - Danny Jackson. We adopted him from a friend who adopted him from a mother-in-law who didn't anticipate how rambunctious a teenage dachshund/beagle mix would be. This makes 3 dogs at our house and 3 dogs at the girls' house who all share a huge backyard that runs in between our two houses. We are full up on dogs. Who remembers the P.D. Eastman children's book titled "Go. Dog. Go." where the last pages are about the huge dog party in the tree? That's our hill. Here is a picture of the new kid. He fancies himself a lap dog.

Additionally, Jon got a new pickup. His old one was a standard which is really cool but was often a workout and since no one expects a standard to be on the road anymore people never left room for a slight rollback on inclines. I was terrified to drive it in town.  And this one has lane assist and backup cameras and seat warmers, etc. He hasn't had "the new car" since the 80s so it's way past time. I'm excited for him.

Lastly, Jon and I have decided to take up camping again. We used to go camping a lot when we were young. It was physically taxing and rugged. We would put everything we needed for a week on our backs and climb a mountain. But we realized there are more ways to camp than that. So, we bought some things to make it easier and less physically demanding. And now all we have to do is pick a destination and a date. I think our first destination will be our own north pasture. And the date will be sometime in the next couple of weeks. We need to trial run our preparedness close to home before we head out on a grander adventure. But I'm looking forward to sitting out under the stars in the woods with a campfire and tent even if it's only a couple hundred yards away from the house.

Becca invited us to her house for breakfast this morning and we talked about New Year resolutions/plans. We decided to work as a team on homestead gardening this coming year. Look for updates involving a greenhouse and fruit trees. 

The chickens are all doing well. They aren't laying many eggs right now because the days are so short - they require about 14 hours of daylight a day to lay well. They have been on hiatus since about October. I will start supplementing their light in the next week or so to kick start them back into laying regularly. And since some of my ladies are approaching 4 years old I need to make plans to add some new girls to the flock this year. The elderly ladies will still lay but less frequently and they have provided me with so much food and entertainment over the years that they will be invited to live out their natural lives here. Hopefully, they will remain a good influence on the newbies.  Here is a picture of Bentley, a chicken that showed up at a friend's house. I have no idea how old she is but she was in quarantine in this picture. She's now out and running with the flock. 

I am cautiously optimistic about the future. I hope you are, too.