Wow, two years since I have blogged... can that really be? Yup.
A friend of mine reminded me several days ago that I should be writing... I don't think she had my blog in mind, but it sparked a fire in me to come back and look at this old site. I read through some of my old blogs and felt the excitement of the time - just before moving into our new house on our new land.
It's been over two years and we are all moved in and as happy as two peas in a pod in our new home! And the excitement has never left us! We love our land and our home. If you asked about all the weeds that have moved in (they obscure the house in the photo) I could do without those. But that's another story for another day ...
We moved the house in October of 2009 and have been working on it ever since. We had a front porch added immediately as well as a large carport. There were several problems with all, but we have accepted that and acknowledge we live in Arkansas. And, those problems are minor considering all the joy we have found living in the woods and foothills of the Arkansas mountains. For those wondering, no Jack has not retired - he commutes over an hour each way to work so that we can live in paradise.
We have several ongoing projects that currently keep us out of trouble and hard at work on our land. Jack has spent the last year enclosing the carport and turning it into a garage... the addition of a dog in July necessitated getting the majority of it completed. Our newest member of the family - Sadie - now resides in the 3/4 finished garage.
Our other major projects have been trying to tame the yard, plant gardens and get a storm shelter built behind the carport. We have made progress on all three fronts, but as you can see from the photo, taming the yard is almost more than I can handle. Summer heat, hail and lack of rain have made the gardening part very difficult. Jack is doing a great job on the shelter though - he has the 14'x8'x8' hole dug and the floor poured. Inhumane summer temperatures and high humidity forced us indoors in August - we are looking forward to resuming our tasks once fall temperatures return in November.I jest - we hope to return to our outside projects in September.
We continue to visit our favorite crystal mine and are still working on the 50' diameter labyrinth in our front yard. Weeds have taken over that space as well. After so many trips to the mine, we are actually thinking about bringing some of our crystals up to MN to sell when we visit...the bigger question will be, what can I part with!
Life in Arkansas is forcing me to reevaluate my choices to live chemical free. As the weeds get taller than our house and the black widow spiders move into my compost bin, I am continually reminded I now live in the south. I see more bugs in a day then I saw in an entire year in Minnesota. Did I mention the 10,000 grasshoppers? Sadie keeps the snakes and rabbits in line but I do believe I need chickens to control the bugs and weed seeds. (I am told Guinea hens will eat both!) Can dogs and chickens co-exist in the same sentence?I am questioning whether or not they will find peace together in our yard!
There, I mentioned her again... Sadie. For those of you who know me very well, you may be surprised to hear we now have a dog that has chosen to live with us. She is a beagle/hound mix of some sort - we call her a beagle on stilts. And yes, I love her with all my heart! Sadie joined our family about two months ago. When we found her, she was starving to death as she had been abandoned at the crystal mine. We should have named her crystal because she is a gem... but she wanted to be Sadie. After many trips to the vet she is healthy again and has gained enough weight that her ribs and bones no longer show through her skin. She accepts us as her family and loves hanging out with me when I do my garden work. She especially loves "playing" with the rabbits. OK, she loves chasing the rabbits - that is her job after all. She doesn't like that we keep her in the garage, but she has access to a dog run that is 25' wide and about 70' long - the entire length of the back of our house! My kitchen garden is located there, so she hangs out with me when I out there too! You can bet no rabbits or deer get into my herbs!
Jack is still looking forward to retirement... it will happen someday. But for today, we are here and happy. And that's it for now from Jack, Joanne, the two cats, one sweet dog and 10,000 grasshoppers.
