Rebecca's journal-may be time to restart this

[Farmfresh]

Glad to here the kids are adjusting well. Hope you all find just the perfect place to call home.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

wow! glad you are settling in and yep.. the humidity is really something. but its great for your skin!

so glad you could bring some of your critters.. the right place will pop up. dont hesitate to walk into a local bank (not one of the big chains) and ask them what is available (as bank owned etc) and the sheriff or local paper may have a "sheriff's sale" list.

what an adventure! trust the process. you'll be just fine

 

[rebecca100]

Yea!! I found a job!!! I will be sitting nights with an elderly lady for $8 an hour. Only 2 nights a week, but still it will help and won't get in the way of doing other things. We still haven't found a place and we aren't able to get a mortgage which has messed us up. Places around here are really expensive to rent, too. I am starting to get past the interstate and people everywhere thing. You have to take the interstate to go anywhere it seems like and their version of rural is a little different than mine. I think if you can see neighbors all around you then it isn't rural. Oh well at least here all the neighbors are my dh's aunts, uncles, and cousins. I do love the feed store in Hammond(the next big town) and there are several rabbitries around. I have been saving up for an english lop and have found 3 rabbitries within 50 miles that have them!! I couldn't locate an english lop anywhere in north Arkansas. The feed prices are much higher here and will definately affect how many rabbits and chickens I will be able to afford to feed. Some prices are nearly double what I have been paying. I also am waiting on some goose eggs that some people are going to give me to either hatch or eat. I really miss our old place, but there are a lot more jobs and cheaper and better stores and way more to do here than there was back home.

 

[Farmfresh]

Congrats! It will take some getting used to, but it sounds like a nice place to live still.

What would you ever do if you lived with me? I can literally spit and hit three houses from my yard!!

 

[rebecca100]

I can tell you what I would do! I would cry! I have never in my life lived anywhere crowded. I need my space to run around in my drawers and jammers if I want to. I wanted to move further up north and to more remote areas and instead we went the other direction!

 

[hwillm1977]

What would you ever do if you lived with me? I can literally spit and hit three houses from my yard!!

My mom thinks I'm insane because I want to move somewhere more 'rural'... we live in a village with 80 other people, no stores, the nearest town is 40 miles away... but I feel crowded because I can see three other houses from my yard Mom lives in a trailer park... lol

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I am so with you guys on the feeling crowded!!! I have ONE neighbor right next door, and two homes on the other side of him...but only the one that borders my place.

I still feel crowded. And when we move the new home in, our house will be closer by a little bit to the neighbors house.

Hope everything continues to go well for you!

 

[Farmfresh]

The weird thing about living in the BIG nasty old city is that we have lived next door to the same people for about 15 years now and still know almost nothing about them. The same couple has lived directly behind us for about 5 years and I don't even know their names.

They want to keep to themselves and they do it well. I call them air conditioner people, because they keep indoors with the air on all summer and then switch directly from air conditioning to heat in the fall and winter.

I could probably run around outside in my "drawers" (OK so I actually have a few times) and no one would even notice. They all have their eyes averted to avoid contact.

If only everyone in the city was like this I would be OK, but there is a subset that spend all of their time trying to make every one live just like they do and work hard at changing laws and by laws until the city resembles the old USSR.

I DO wish for wide open spaces.

 

[rebecca100]

Okay, I guess it is about time to update y'all again. So far I have absolutely have fallen in love with the feed stores around here! they carry EVERYTHING you can think of from the livestock itself to all you can possibly need to take care of it. Last time I went I got 20 standard cochin chicks-my favorite type-golden laced, buff, AND I think a couple of partridge. I also got a pair of sebastapool geese at a flea market/auction thing for $30 for the pair!(they are on strict quarentine!!) A neighbor gave me a male turkey for my hen and wants to buy some sebastapool eggs or goslings next spring! FIL and I are getting ready to seperate his chicken pens according to breed now that he has a cabinet incubator he wants to incubate some eggs instead of giving them away or throwing them out like he has been doing. Everything seems to be coming together. When we moved we had to sell dd's little mule and we had promised her a new one when we got here. That didn't take long. We got the prettiest little black and white mini gelding that was broke to ride for $250 and DD absolutely loves him! He is very well mannered and calm, unfortunately he has problems with his stifles-on both legs. Riding or pulling he does great with no problems, but if he is left in a stall too long then his legs lock badly. We are going to try to work him to strengthen the ligaments before considering a surgery that he may not need. Here almost everyone around has a horse and we are beside a hunting club where we can take out the minis for cart or wagon rides and the exersize should be good for his legs. I still haven't got them convinced to get a hog yet, but I did manage to get them convinced and excited about a milk goat(didn't take much to convince FIL! He loves raw milk and immediately was ready to get one) Unfortunately we have been looking for nearly two months now and still have not found one. We have found doelings from farms for prices well above what we can afford. We can pay up to $200 but no more and we really want one that is milking or at least grown for that price. I can't even seem to find many mixed breed goats.

Anyway on another note, the kids started school today. They went from a school that had less than 500 students for k-12 to a school that has over 700 from k-4th! I am worried how well that is going to work with them. I took them both to school and met their teachers. Both teachers seemed nice which will definately help. I am afraid it will be a shock to them like it was me when we moved from a big town in arizona to arkansas when I was a kid(where i went to the exact same school that my kids just left and my kids were going to school with my childhood friends kids and had some of the same teachers I had as a child!). I just still wish we could find our own place!!!!!!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

I think stalls CAUSE a lot of problems with horses. If possible I would try to keep him in a dry lot with a shed or a least have turn out everyday.

I have a friend with several elderly horses. Two of them have stifle problems. She swears by the Glucosamine and Chrondrointion supplements. She said the improvement was so great in her horses that she started taking supplements herself!

The area sounds great! I am really glad you are starting to feel like it is home.