(D♥A) MERRY CHRISTMAS! - 2013

FROM ALL OF US HERE AT TWO FARMS ONE . . . . . . .  

AND MAY IT BE YOUR MOST BLESSED AND BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS EVER!!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

(D♥A) FOR THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN WONDERING

  As the year comes drawing to an end, I have been reading around our blog as if I were just a reader and it has occurred to me that there are probably quite a few questions many of you might have but have hesitated to ask. So . . . I hope to answer many, if not all, of those questions in this post, and if you still have any more questions, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK!

D♥A - Many of you may be reading this as "Dave loves Anna", but the actual meaning is . . .  "the love between Dave & Anna"

Are you two engaged? - - YES!, we are engaged! And we have been for a very, very long time, now.

Are you planning on living together at the same farm? - - YES!, we can hardly wait to be living at the same farm! It sure does seem to be taking a long time, though, doesn't it?

When will you be getting married? - - That is a good question! As much as we would both love to run out and tie the knot right now, there has been (and still is) a lot of Red Tape we have to clear out of the way before we can. NO, neither one of us are married to anyone else. And NO, neither of us are in trouble with the law, or anything like that. But here in the U.S. our government seems to be geared for middle-aged people and older to live as singles, and tosses a lot of clinkers into the older set living as married people. As soon as we get a little more Red Tape and stuff cleared out of our way, we will get married anyway! And we promise, we will tell you just as soon as we have set a date!

Which farm will you be living together at? - - Due to the nature of some of our Red Tape and clinkers, we can not answer that one right now. But we will tell you this much . . . when we finally start that life together on the same farm, under the same roof, it will be in a Tiny House! We will be turning a 300-square foot insulated steel storage building into a very cozy little house. Then our main house will be turned into our business work space. We seem to have so much of our business stuff all around us, that everywhere we turn and look, there is our business. We both seem to be living in our business with a dab of space left for us. So, since we need so much creative space, that is what the current house will be, all business, and we will have our little, cozy, business-free space to retire to at night. So be ready for future posts about our Tiny House building journey!

 Don't let the current grungy look fool you! It will be painted nicely and have a wrap around porch added. And of course, a pretty little yard around it. I can hardly wait! It already smells great inside. It has been being used to store some of my candle making supplies.

The above will be our front door. Imagine it with a BIG sleeping porch added to it, and a pretty breakfast table! The window at the top is to a loft that will be a tiny little guest bedroom.

 This will be our back door. And yes, the window above this door also goes to a loft room. There will be a small porch on the back, too, opening out into an outdoor kitchen, and an outdoor living/dining area (yes, we will have a tiny kitchen, and a tiny living room inside, too, but we prefer to be outside when the weather is nice).

We FULLY intended to be TOGETHER on ONE farm, long before now, but so many things have gotten into our way. . . finances, health, injuries, and quite a few other unexpected turns, but we will get there. We would love it if any of you could help us with a few prayers and some positive thinking to help us get there faster! Right now, finances and physical abilities are our two biggest obstacles, though time is another huge one.

As we embark on your journey to build our Tiny House, we would love to hear your wonderful ideas, no matter how good or silly you might think they are. And if you have any questions for us that we may  not have covered, please don't hesitate to ask. If we can't answer it right now, we will just as soon as we can.

Thank you so much  for taking the time to read our blog!

(AF) TALKING CRITTERS

I know I have posted this before, but THE NIGHT THE ANIMALS TALKED still remains my all-time, favorite animated Christmas show! I had to take a moment to share it with you again. I find it so very sad that it is no longer aired on television. And, sadly, we know why. . . . . .

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Monday vs Friday

Okay, so I am a day late with this, but I was away from my computer most of the day, yesterday, and just had to share this!

LAST MONDAY - Dave sweating hard

LAST FRIDAY - same spot (that's Bubba)

PHARMACY FRIDAY - - Pain Med Chaser

  Yes, once again this is a catch-up post. The past few days have been spent going at top speed to get the critters, plants, the farm, and me ready for an unusually harsh, and early Winter blast. And now, I sit here staring out the window at many inches of snow, on top of a couple inches of ice .... hands nearly too cold to type. Consequently, this will probably be shorter than usual.

With all that extra hard, non-stop work, combined with the effects of the incoming storm system, my pain level (in many areas of my body) rose substantially as I prepared this little farm .... often tooth gritting pain. A couple of times, I literally could not walk without a cane and even that was questionable. Yes, I cheated. I didn't sit still long enough for natural pain relief to take effect and took some pain reliever. I know, shame on me! There is; however, a natural substance that one can combine with pain medications to hasten and amplify their effect so that they work faster, better, and reduce the amount of them that you take. Being able to take less of them is a good thing.

I had a great dentist once (now retired) that told me that if I drank a Coke, a cup of coffee, or something with caffeine in it as I took a Tylenol or pain pill, it would make it work faster and stronger. I tried it and he was right! Over the years, I have tried this many times, each time with excellent results. So although I get desperate and cheat from time to time, by consuming a little caffeine (which is natural) along with pain medication, I am always able to cut the amount I take in half, usually with even better and faster results.

I do not advocate the use of commercially made pain medications. I hold firm that natural pain relief should be used as much as possible. I, myself, still get great results with Cayenne and/or Tabasco peppers . . .  even better when I toss in a hefty dash of Ceylon cinnamon. And you must be careful when consuming caffeinated beverages with your pain medications. Too much caffeine can create even more problems.

Here is what Live Strong has to say about the subject: Caffeine & Pain Relievers

Have a beautiful day! 

(DF) LATE FALL RAMBLINGS AND UPDATE

The past couple of weeks has been very busy.  There has been little time for the computer, only enough for checking mail and such.

Work has taken up most of the time.  Of course, with cooler weather (and really bad weather coming), days off have been filled with cutting and hauling wood and buying and hauling hay for the goats.  Throw in a few appointments, flat tires and dead batteries and you can start to see why I haven't been writing.  It is amazing that I have been able to spend even a little time (not nearly enough) with Anna.  Somehow, I have also managed to squeeze in some tilling of the garden, though only a little at a time and not quite finished.

Also, the Thanksgiving holiday fell within this time frame.  No, I didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with Anna, or my (now grown up) children.  There was no time for smoking the turkey and brisket or making pies.  I didn't get to spend the day hunting either, though I did end up wasting part of one day off searching my property for a deer that was wounded by a careless hunter on adjoining property.

I spent thanksgiving day and the day after with co-workers, preparing for the "black Friday" sale (in this case called the "blitz" because it actually starts on Thanksgiving day).  In all fairness, my employer DID supply a nice meal for us on Thanksgiving and the two days following, but it just wasn't the same as having it with family.

Now, Thanksgiving and black Friday are over and work has shifted to the Christmas commercialization season.  It is a shame people can't focus on what these holidays realty represent instead of just making and spending money.

Here on the farm, l the focus has shifted toward preparing for winter weather.  With the forecast calling for single digit temperatures and a good accumulation of ice, sleet and/or snow, there are plants and small trees to protect and animals to provide extra hay and windbreaks for.  This is also part of the reason I have been pushing to finish tilling the garden before the snow and freezing weather.

We will soon see if the forecast is correct or not.  Either way, like it or not, it is now winter.



UPDATE:   I drafted this post last night (Wednesday) but didn't get it posted.  Now it is Thursday night and the garden (and everything else) is covered with a mix of ice, sleet and snot (sorry, that was supposed to be snow), with a current temperature of 20F and a nice Northeast wind.  Yes, it IS now winter, but as much as we dislike the ice and low temperatures, we need the hard freeze and winter precipitation mess, both for the farm and to help us appreciate the warm gentle breeze of the coming spring.

(AF) WINTER BLAST PREPARATIONS

January 2009

  It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL outside today! It is so warm, it is almost t-shirt weather. Once you get to working outside a bit, it is t-shirt weather. So what will Dave and I be spending our time doing today? Preparing for yet another, unusually early Arctic blast, this one even colder and longer in duration that the last! We will be working together, today, at Anna's Farm, then this evening and tomorrow on each separate farm. Oh, do we ever long for the day we finally have our Two Farms combined!

Although weather patterns often change over the decades,  figuring in the past 3 or 4 decades, this is the kind of weather we only see in mid January, and only in an occasional Winter. Add in to that, it is also uncommon to have this type of extreme weather repeatedly and so close together. Usually, anymore, it is one big bout in a season, if at all. This is already our second this season, and it isn't even officially Winter, yet!

Today is supposed to be pretty and warm . . . . tomorrow the same. Wednesday will be dry with so-so temps. Then the bottom falls out of everything! Our lows will be going down into the teens and single digits  *brrrrrr* with the highs staying well below freezing. Once it drops below freezing Wednesday night, we won't get out of the deep freeze for at least 6 days to a week or more. Oh, and we mustn't forget the added in sleet, snow and freezing rain. Ugh!!!

Since we do not expect this type of weather for at least another month to 6 weeks, naturally we are far from prepared and ready for it. This time frame is usually spent preparing for Christmas, then we prepare for possible extreme cold blasts. So we now find ourselves dropping everything to prepare us, our farms, and our critters for temps we often don't even see at all in our winters. Even plants that don't have to normally be brought in/covered will have to be readied.

We will try to get on here as much as possible to share our progress with you, but for the next few days, our posts may be few and short as we prepare. Funny part is, it is when we don't have so much time to post that we have the best things to post! My water pressure is already running low right now, and my power is dim, so  we are really hoping and praying that both stays on through all of this. But since it usually goes out as these types of Winter storms hits, and often stays off for one to two weeks, we have to prepare us and all of our very dependent critters for that possibility, too. We also long for the day that we are totally off-grid and this won't even be a worry at all! Times like this brings the urgency of meeting that goal to the front of our minds!

Have a great day, everyone, and may Mother Nature treat you kindly!