Homestead forum diaspora

LOL   well you seem to have come through it all and still kept your sense of humor.... That's good. 

Neil just got tired of the Old Forum and wanted to move on.

Kezzie and I (Kezzie was on here living in Wisc in case you don't remember her) got married so that's good. I lost my ass again to the banks and swore to never go to them for money ever again. I spent two years building a cabin out of pocket and now the bank will get what I can't remove. So homeless, we traded the cabin Kezz had on Harding Lake for a run down, unfinished, disgusting piece of shit two story on five acres, but it's our piece of shit.

That about brings my life up to date.

I love the tongue in cheek sense of dark humor that often is bantered back and forth here...we're currently being held hostage by four cats whom Cheryl brought in from the wild in 2005.  Between shoveling and plowing snow, snowblowing trails for the cats to walk on, bringing in firewood and trying to keep all our appendages from frostbite we pretty much cater to our hard task masters.  We have made various attempts at escape to no avail.  I remember awhile back it was green here and warm...and the gardens were providing pretty much all we need...a pair of shorts was about all I needed for clothing...barefooting sure feels good.  Getting older (much) and thinking I'm ready for something different, but uncertain where and how...and I know that I go through this every winter...so I'll just keep on keepin' on until something else comes up.  I like this new forum and had noticed a bit of a change in Neil over the past months...he was getting a bit testier...it was good for him to give up a losing proposition and relax...he's not getting any younger, either.

Slaeghunder at January 3, 2014 at 5:31 PM

 

Neil is fine, he has alot of things on his plate and decided the forum didn't need to be one of them anymore.

I kinda like to keep in touch with the crew though, so I created this place - at least till someone else comes up with something better.   A free site was the best I could mannage.  Poor men have poor ways.

I'm still working in the same place, doing the same stuff.  It's recently become clear to management that I'm not readily replacable, and on top of that someone left for medical reasons and I got stuck with their job on top of mine, so it's a double edged sword of "We acknowledge you can do things other people can't", and "here, have a whole bunch more shit other people can't do".  I'm not sure how it's gong to shake out, just yet.

We've been planting lots of stuff, eating lots of stuff.  The 2012 drought fried everything and was almost a complete loss. Last year was better but not great, still a bit droughtish. The Chickens are doing well, aside from the fact our meat birds trampled all the chicks when we decided to indulge a broody hen.  I built a coop with a truck camper for a roof, It's one part outbuilding and one part redneck yard art.

Got some goats give to us.  They are little minigoats, which means they don't make much milk (if they were making milk) and they're really not worth butchering.  Pretty worthless, really, unless you run a petting zoo.

You going to sell off some of your acreage, since you don't want to deal with it?

I'm thinking four of five acres of garden area would be all I'd want to deal with, and that only if I had a tractor and some equipment, or maybe a small village of illegal immigrants.

Hey, I have a tractor and some equipment!  Not just any old tractor either -- the gold standard tractor for homesteaders, a venerable ol' 1948 Ford 8N!  Ahhh, yes...acreage and a tractor.  It's amazing how much different things can be when you add a tractor to the mix.  For example, instead of having to call someone to come plow up a garden for a few bucks while you sit on the porch and watch, you can fix your tractor!  And while other people are tending the puny little gardens they had to carve out with hands, hoes, and shovels, you can be crouched over a carburetor while the weeds take over what was totally going to be an awesome garden plot.  And when other less fortunate souls put their little mowers and weedwhackers away for the winter after their subdivision yard dies back, you can go to an urgent care center because, when you were working on your carburetor for the 8th time, you kinda pried something a little too hard and the next thing you knew, the top of your thumb was laid open to the point that the nurse practitioner was able to visually examine your "tendon sheath" and determine that you were very, very lucky and do not need to see an orthopedic surgeon. 

And the best part is, the scar will never, ever go away, it will always be numb and tingle a little bit, and everytime something bangs into it...that whole skin flap will hurt like it was just laid open. 

Ahh, tractors.  I'm really looking forward to passing mine along to the next owner of this place, perhaps as a way to "sweeten the deal" a little bit.  Well, and also because most of it isn't flammable so I'll never have the satisfaction of burning it to the ground.

However....I will say that when they're running, tractors are actually pretty handy.

Rob at January 3, 2014 at 5:32 PM

LOL   well you seem to have come through it all and still kept your sense of humor.... That's good. 

Neil just got tired of the Old Forum and wanted to move on.

Kezzie and I (Kezzie was on here living in Wisc in case you don't remember her) got married so that's good. I lost my ass again to the banks and swore to never go to them for money ever again. I spent two years building a cabin out of pocket and now the bank will get what I can't remove. So homeless, we traded the cabin Kezz had on Harding Lake for a run down, unfinished, disgusting piece of shit two story on five acres, but it's our piece of shit.

That about brings my life up to date.

 

I've been sitting here for like 45 minutes trying to figure out what to say, and here it is.

So, you and Kezzie got married, huh?  That IS good.  In fact, that's awesome!  But after reading all that, I think the fact that you've STAYED married is nothing short of F*CKING AMAZING.  I mean, that's a lot of heavy shit for a fairly new marriage, right?!  Having said that, I kinda expected a guy who landed such an obviously awesome wife to sound a little happier than what I just read, because what I just read sounds like the writing of a guy who can't figure out whether to be thankful for what he has or bitter about what he lost.  And make no mistake about it -- you really can't be BOTH.  They're mutually exclusive.

But then, maybe I'm just reading too much into what you wrote -- I have a tendency toward that, if you recall...lol   So let me just come right out and ask you, straight up -- HOW ARE YOU DOING, ROB??

Rob at January 3, 2014 at 5:32 PM

LOL   well you seem to have come through it all and still kept your sense of humor.... That's good. 

Neil just got tired of the Old Forum and wanted to move on.

Kezzie and I (Kezzie was on here living in Wisc in case you don't remember her) got married so that's good. I lost my ass again to the banks and swore to never go to them for money ever again. I spent two years building a cabin out of pocket and now the bank will get what I can't remove. So homeless, we traded the cabin Kezz had on Harding Lake for a run down, unfinished, disgusting piece of shit two story on five acres, but it's our piece of shit.

That about brings my life up to date.

 

LOL ......  Thankful and happy, but a wee bit bitter about it all.  

Actually I'm doing fine. I got a good woman that loves me. I have a roof over my head, food to eat and a dog that likes to sit with us at night and watch T.V.   It's the Good Life, my man. 

"..my "departure" (coughexilecough).."

Been there.

Done that.

Oh, you can be happy and bitter at the same time - I don't think anybody could go through that shit with the house that Rob did and not be bitter.  But he gets to be bitter with Kezzie, who was right there with him getting hozed over  - and all of us who watched that house built from the ground up in it's own thread, with photos and posts from the day Rob said "This is the spot where I'm going to build it" to the point where they moved in there and started living the dream.

There was a colective "*$#@&#$% !!"  from the entire homestead crew when that whole thing happened.  We're all a little bitter about that, and we're just living vicarously through the interent from thousands of miles away.

Threads in the tapestry.

I got to visit with them a few days ago, and he seemed to be doing better than alright -though I admit his mood might have been deceptively altered by the three bottles of good wine and a spectacular veil parmesean.

good to see you around cm........ the forum just wasn't the same without you. 

You all make me smile....and laugh.  And Robbie dear....your place may have been a piece of shit but it's not now.

and it will be better and better. As warm weather comes back and you can work on it again.  And the bank won't take it this time.

Rob at January 3, 2014 at 5:32 PM

LOL   well you seem to have come through it all and still kept your sense of humor.... That's good. 

Neil just got tired of the Old Forum and wanted to move on.

Kezzie and I (Kezzie was on here living in Wisc in case you don't remember her) got married so that's good. I lost my ass again to the banks and swore to never go to them for money ever again. I spent two years building a cabin out of pocket and now the bank will get what I can't remove. So homeless, we traded the cabin Kezz had on Harding Lake for a run down, unfinished, disgusting piece of shit two story on five acres, but it's our piece of shit.

That about brings my life up to date.

 

My God, where was I? I never heard you guys got rid of the lake cabin. I'm so sorry!

Hello,  Had been "Fargoman" at the other forum.  My name is Kevin and I reside in Eastern NC.  Hope everyone is doing well.  2014 is the year of change for me and my family as I have left the corporate world and am focusing on homesteading for now and forevermore.

Angela in ND here. Counting wind chill it's a balmy -58F today. Stay warm Bruce.

I'm going to buy a row boat an go back to Cuba to cold here....

82 members registered...squeak up, everyone!

Be warm Angela...

Those temps aren't so bad if you all didn't have the wind. It's amazing what a little breaze can do when it's -30° or colder. We plug our rigs in or start them about every two hours. If you let your vehicle just sit in those temps it will freeze hard and then you'll have some fun. Ever try and thaw out a 5,000 lb chunk of frozen steel?

Seems to be more posters on this new forum.That's great.Maybe we were getting a little stale on the old forum.

Ha! Seems weird to see someone actually call K by her real name.  

I'm here- I think. I don't show up on the members page, but my sign in worked.  Maybe I'm only partly here.

Well, here I am. It looks like I finally made it... I think.