So much has changed since I had the time to post to this
blog way back in March. We bought a house on 10 acres out in the country near
the lake (Less than a mile from one of the many places to pull a boat in). We
now own three goats, chickens, ducks , rabbits and cats out of creative body
parts. We have no visible neighbors but the neighbors we have are absolutely
awesome. I have added this paragraph
to the post below that I did about three
weeks ago when I had absolutely no internet on my phone even at the house. I
didn’t realize how long it had been since I had been able to post any of our
amazing news.
Every morning when I wake up, I still have to question
myself to see if I am dreaming or not. We have school custody of my two
step-daughters this year, and it has been lovely having both of the girls here
instead of just one of them. Reminds me of how different their personalities
are too. The first quarter of school went ok at our public school but I
realized that the way things are being taught these days is not the education I
really wanted for my kids. I wanted them to learn how to think, and logic
things through. The kids all had great teachers, and I cannot stress enough how
I do not blame the school or the teachers for our decision to home school. I blame the No Child Left Behind act for
effectively tying the hands of educators and making sure that no child is
allowed to exceed.
So we have jumped into the world of homeschooling Spawn(6),
Demon(7), and Bug(9) right now. After the midterm when winter break happens
Tater(13) will be joining them. Her being a social butterfly has made it a
difficult decision for her to make. But we have given her the choice and she
has chosen to be homeschooled as well. She just wanted to be Ms Merry Christmas, and
go to a Barn warming dance first. Slick(4) is still attending preschool at this
point. He needs enough help with his speech that I feel it is the best place
for him at this time.
Our goats, Snoopy, Lucy, and Sally have done an excellent
job so far being our brush hogs to help us clear off our place. We joke that we
need a cow, or a horse, or a llama to eat the grass that the goats leave
behind. They eat every weed down to the soil, but only touch the grass if they
absolutely have to.
Speaking of the goats we had to make a hard decision this
month and put down our beloved dog Charlie. We brought all four of our dogs
from town out to the country with us and none of them have made the transition
well from being city dogs to country dogs. They have all had problems chasing
our critters and Charlie had killed one of our ducks three days before he got
loose and attacked Lucy. The only thing that saved Lucy’s life was my husband
being able to run like the wind and my father firing a shot in the air to
startle Charlie enough that he let Lucy go long enough for her to get away from
him. It was a hard decision to make, but we knew that he was fully bonded to us
as a family and would have a hard time adjusting to another family. We had
tried in the past when we lived in town to give him a home where he didn’t have
to be penned up. He will be remembered for a very long time and any new canines
in our lives will have to have the same heart, intelligence and goofiness that
Charlie gave us unconditionally.
In happier news I got my garlic planted in my new garlic bed
and harvested about 5lbs of parsley out of the garden at the old house. I think
we are planning on going back out and removing all of the old garden since the
new tenants do not seem interested in pursuing the gardening the way we did.
Since my parents are their land lords, and they are my friends it makes such a
venture easy to take on.
We are going to be getting new floors put in in the
following months as well. We had a pipe burst under our kitchen sink and it
flooded almost the entire downstairs. Our living room was the only room not
affected by what we are jokingly calling the Great Flood of 2013. We are
finally going to get to put the hardwood floors in we have dreamed about since
we first looked at the house. We are putting down red cedar floors and then
coating them with a gym floor coating to protect them from the wear and tear
that we put our floors through with 7 plus sets of feet walking on them daily.
We are planning to pull up all of the carpet in the house as well so that our
allergy/asthma sufferers have an easier time breathing.
On top of all of that good news we also have gotten our
outdoor wood furnace delivered and it should be being hooked up in the next
week or so. I hope to get Morin a
chainsaw for Yule so that he doesn’t have to use a hand saw for everything. He
is amazing and patient and strong enough to do it but he shouldn’t have to.
I am looking forward to winter in our new home. All of the
improvements and changes we are working on, they feel like they are never going
to be done, yet I can see how many
things we have accomplished just in this first six months here. I couldn’t be
prouder of us.
