hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

ALMOST every evening, Deb... it is getting VERY old.... Its difficult to haul stuff in a pickup truck when the bed is wet!!!!!

H will be ready to haul horses at noon. While it is a much later start than I wanted, I'm a bit grateful because there is more I can do around the house. I have no idea what time I'm going to get to bed tonight, but I'm dreading it a bit... We'll see. I have LOTS to do between now and then...

Pack another kitchen box, toss the important stuff off the tops of the furniture in the bedroom into a bag, have a list of things ready for tomorrow that must go. Make sure everyone has directions that needs them tomorrow. Ugh, head is spinning... Where's all my nice calming essential oils!! I'm gonna need them!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Take a deep breath or twelve! Good luck on the horse hauling - hope everything goes smoothly for you.

 

[Denim Deb]

Hope you made out OK.

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks Ladies, its been a rough start, but we're hanging in there. The fridge issue was the biggest fiasco, I'll have to write details later... The horses are settling in SLOWLY. Its been a stressful couple of days with feedings, they have NOT liked being in the barn. Last night was the first feeding that they were half way relaxed, which was a huge step forward. Hopefully they hurry themselves up and get used to the routine because I dislike it greatly when they're all stressed out about things!
The house is almost a working house and the barn is almost a working barn... we're making progress! Pictures to come soon

 

[Denim Deb]

Hope everything is OK, and you can get on soon and give us an update. I've been so busy I didn't realize until today how long it's been since we've heard from you.

 

[hqueen13]

Deb, thanks for the thoughts! It REALLY stinks not having internet. I can get online on my smart phone but it is a pain in the butt to do much typing and work on it.

So to make it easier, Im writing updates from my laptop to copy/paste here once I get on the internet. The lack of internet is disturbing and frustrating, but is what it is at this point in time. Hopefully in a couple months well be able to afford even a cellular version of internet to get by. Im quite happy without TV, the lack of internet thing is frustrating!
Our lives have still been busy with getting things set up in the house, buying all the stuff we didnt know wed need and finding placing for everything. Im upstairs in the office right now, which is partially set up. The desk and computers are at least in place. Now its all the little office stuff that has to find homes.
Today officially marks 3 weeks since hauling the horses (tomorrow is the 3 week move date) and they are finally settling in. The landlord (here forth known as LL) has been fantastic getting things set up and making small improvements that make a big difference. He told me to let him know if I had any suggestions with fence lines and things like that that could be improved, and I pointed out that the traffic flow of the area by the gate was really tight with a corner that horses kept getting pinned in, and he immediately set about straightening out the fence line to remove the corners all together and make it much safer. He replaced the 6 gate with an 8 gate, and it has really helped make it much easier to move the horses in and out. He replaced a gate to the paddock off of the barn yard as well as completed the fence across the barn yard so that it is fully enclosed in the event that a horse gets loose they wont have much of anywhere to go (and the lure of nice grass to boot!).
Monday and Tuesday of this week (when it was hot as blazes!) they completed the arena fencing. There is still one gate that needs to be installed, but other than that, it is complete, and looks fantastic. Im looking forward to the time when Storm is confident enough to start using it.
Last week I happened to comment that there were lots of cobwebs over the stalls, and inquired as to what the best method would be to get them down. Two days later I find LLs maintenance man with two broom handles taped together sweeping cobwebs down. I was impressed! I havent really had to lift a finger to see improvements and things happen easily. Not the general attitude on most farms where usually money and time are tight!
Storm and I made our first foray into the world outside of the barn yard today, and he did very well. We made lots of laps of the area outside the barn yard, stretching boundaries on each pass. We visited the well hydrant, Es Jeep, made a loop between the trees and a little circle in front of the round pen. He spooked once, but pulled himself back together and did very well remaining calmly curious. I respected his boundaries, and had pretty high expectations of what was ok to move forward and what wasnt. If he wasnt completely calm, then we didnt get to move forward. That was more for my sake than his, but it gave both of us the opportunity to respect each others boundaries.
So thats life in a nutshell here. Staying busy caring for horses, organizing the house, and working on figuring out how to survive financially is pretty much the day to day grind. Sometime soon Im going to begin looking at the areas that I have available to plant, and see what I can do. There is a nice bed down the length of the side of the barn planted with little dwarf Alberta spruce trees with spaces in between. Im interested in planting bug repelling plants, but will have to consult all the smart green thumbs here to find out what the orientation can handle since it gets very strong afternoon sun.

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds really nice.

 

[hqueen13]

I couldn't have asked for anything nicer, Deb!! It is so lovely here.
With as cool as its been I've been able to enjoy being outside a lot more and that has been nice!

 

[hqueen13]

E and I stopped yesterday at a farm about 2 miles from our house that advertised organic veggies with a sign by the road. We followed directions and honked when we arrived and S came out of the house to sell us veggies. We got to talking and I think I've basically landed myself a job. I asked if they needed help, which was a slightly rhetorical question and got the answer I expected... so I'll drop him an email this week to discuss what I might be able to do for them. He said that he didn't know what I was interested in exactly, whether it was volunteer or paid, but said they needed help. He commented much of it was weeding since it is a constant battle in an organic garden. I think I'll write him and tell him I'll never turn down money, but that I'm totally open to negotiating, too. Frankly working for free food is appealing to me! They have chickens for eggs as wel as meat birds, too. I'm so excited because this is just what I'm looking for to start learning!!

 

[hqueen13]

Since the lovely farm had tomatoes and I had egg cartons to give them, I stopped back by the farm. This time I got to meet V, the wners wife. She was a delight and I let her know who I was and she was very excited. We chatted a little while about the why of farming and I shared a few things with her and we seemed to get along. She basically told me to let them know when I could come up and they'll put me to work. She was also happy to give me seconds of anything they might have in exchange for working. I told her that I knew where food came from and I knew that not every piece that comes off the vine is perfect and it didn't bother me. So now I just need to decide when I want to get up there and work! If I can work up there and cut our fod bill down with fresh organic food that will make me happy!
Excuse any typos... typing on my smart phone isn't easy!!