Flabbergasted

The place next to ours has been empty and for sale ever since we moved here. They finally have a contract on it (for less than half of what they were asking) and asked Jack to help them get it ready. (No, we're not to the flabbergasted part yet.) The wife asked him to help with something today. He told her that he would be able to after he got done milking. She said, "Milking?! What do you do with the milk?" "We drink it." And to that she replied, "I just go to the store and buy the REAL stuff." (Yep, emphasis mine. And, .... now we're flabbergasted.)
I guess we've had it all wrong. :-0
Nancy

Snow and Ice

We are feeling a little weary of the snow and ice. We woke up to more on the ground and it's been snowing all morning. The good part is that it gave us some traction for walking on the ice; the bad part is the spots where the snow isn't deep enough to give you that traction. And, of course, you don't know where those spots are until you are on top of them. :-) If you didn't have to dress in five or more layers each time you ventured outside it might not be so bad. Or maybe not. I did have a nice thing happen as I was doing chores, though. I walked into the goat barn to give them hay and turned to walk out when I saw a flock of over fifty birds on the ground in front of where I was at. I stopped and watched the juncos, sparrows, and cardinals eating grain that had been dropped on the ground until a chicken came walking out of the "little" coop and scared them off. At first I thought it was amazing that so many birds had shown up so quickly, but then I wondered if they were having a hard time finding something to eat these days. I walked out of the barn and they came back and started feeding again with me standing there. One of the juncos was no more than three feet from me.
I am trying to remember that spring is just around the corner. It surely is.

Oh These Interesting Times

We made it through what they were calling "a potentially historic storm" without losing power. We did what we could to prepare and left it in God's hands. He is good. We have extremely cold temperaures coming up now, but the sun is shining this morning which always makes everything seem better.
Jack's youngest sister and her children have made it safely out of Egypt and are in Greece for a short time before returning to the States. We are very thankful for that.
Got the seed catalogs out last night to help take my mind off of the howling wind. It is relaxing and fills me with hope thinking about spring and being able to plant again. It is always so encouraging isn't it? To think of the warmer temperatures and the excitement of plants coming up and baby animals being born. It's such a blessing.
Hope you all fared well in the storm and that your thoughts are on spring, which is just around the corner.
Nancy

Wise Words

The older gentleman that built the cordwood house said that when he finished it his son-in-law (the same one that had scoffed at the idea of him building it himself) asked him what he wanted for it. The man said, "It's not for sale." The son-in-law, "Oh, come on. Everything has a price." He said, "Not in this case." The son-in-law asked, "How about a million dollars?" The man replied, "What would I do with a million dollars? This is what I wanted and I have it." Hmmmm....there's wisdom here. The thing that stood out the most about all of these people that had built their own homes was the joy, satisfaction, and freedom that you could hear in their voices and see in their faces. They had done it. (Interesting that it was a relative that tried to discourage this man from even starting. That can be even harder to overcome than an unrelated person.)
He also told us that his grandmother used to say to him in German: "Waste nothing-want for nothing." He spoke it in German; I wish I could do that for you.
Nancy

Alternative Energy and Building Class

We attended an all-day alternative building and energy class yesterday. They covered solar energy using the standard collectors on the roof, photovoltaic collectors, and house design, such as, positioning of the house and windows and eaves to let sunshine in during the winter but not in the summer. They had energy-saving appliances and incorporated many things when building their house to insulate and shield. The second house we visited was built using the cordwood method. The man who built it was 70 years old at the time and did the work himself. Wow. He had a sod roof and had built the house around a stone pillar in the middle that ran up from the wood furnace (that he also built himself) in the basement. He had recessed his shower into the pillar so it would be very warm and in the kitchen he had recessed a place for his beautiful Stanley wood cook stove. Awesome! At the third house they had used straw-bale building for their home and were working on an outside storage building using the same method. They also were working on an outside clay oven! One of the families attending had built one, too, so we were able to talk to them about it. That is another long-time dream of mine: to have a clay oven. The family said that they mainly use it for cooking pizzas. Yum!
It was a very full day and we have lots to think about, as far as, using what we learned.
Hope your days are going well!

Journey To Simplify-Part Nine

The house wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as the previous one, but it did need a new roof, septic system, lots of cleaning, and new paint. We had many many wonderful times there, also. We had laying hens, meat chickens, steers for beef, turkeys, goats, and a large garden. Our lives were full of joy and, because the plant had closed, Jack was home all day and we felt like we were finally getting to where we wanted to be. We started raising quail for falconers, as falconry was very big in the area. We all came to love doing this and planned to keep on with it. We were able to spend much time with Jack's dad which became even more important when he passed away two-and-a-half years later. Not knowing what the future held we planned to continue on with what we had been doing. We had no way of knowing that we were about to enter a time of very deep trouble.
To be continued.....