$100,000 (almost), and Life Flotsam
SOooooo.....there was a nice trailer recently parked at the vacant McMansion right across the street, from us, which has been for sale for months. Trailer showed up on Saturday before I left for a garage sale, Sunday morning a neighbor (the local snoop) comes over to ask me if I'd seen who had delivered it, and tells me it is stolen. Said there was a reward of "a hundred" for it. I congratulated him and he scurried off.
TURNS OUT IT WAS A HUNDRED GRAND. Turns out the contents of the trailer was a race car worth a cool MILLION.
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/08/08192008_Vintage-race-car-recovered.cfm
I would love to say that I am enough of an Enlightened Being that I am not completely envious and jealous of Nosy Neighbor/s good fortune, but it would be a bald-faced lie. Am wrestling with my moral conscience, but so far she's just been doing a lot of whining and pitching a tantrum on the floor....
Here's the Cliff Notes version of the rest of it:
Family--doing well. Cam is in Texas with Eric's Mom. I expect at least a week of deprogramming once he returns :) Have gotten into the swing of a routine with my mother (she's in lock down dementia care facility), Eric working like crazy putting the new windows in our house, Chuck and Eunice having a rough go of it (he's back in the hospital as of yesterday. Signed Rachel up for Kindergarten today--she is so excited, and I can't believe she'll be off to school this September! Took Victoria, my Mom, and Rachel shopping today for school clothes for the girls. I am going to be helping with Pat's Mom, Miss Kay, in the next few months, as a part time companion, and I'm looking forward to that.
Farm--is in FULL SWING: Hauled off the last 1.4 TONS of trash and crap left by the previous owners. It is wonderful to have just OUR stuff here now, and have room to park in the barn, and waking room in the garage. I've found that the recent fight with the neighbors actually has been very freeing--I no longer worry so much about what they think--I am much more focused on what is going to meet the needs of the farm, and less about aesthetics.
Chickens--ate our first bird yesterday. Eric didn't relish the hatchet bit, and I sat and thought deep philosophical things while I dressed the carcass (in between wondering "What IS that weird thing?" while I dumped the viscera into a bucket.). Free range chicken is chewier and leaner than grocery store birds--it was delicious with garlic and chives, served over a salad.
Turkeys and Ducks--all four turkeys looking much better now I have them on higher protein food. Ducks have started laying eggs. Hooray! :)
Garden--planted but pathetic. Turns out the feed store gave me the wrong soil type for the raised beds. I'm adding lime and organic compost, and it should start to really be great by next spring. Have about 200 square feet. Now have deer fence around it, and have gotten some onions, herbs, and potatoes harvested.
Fruit--have two enormous black cherry trees that went crazy this year. Plums are almost ready, have four apple trees Will be using our cool big cider press in a few weeks when I'm hosting a cider-pressing party. Bring your own containers :) Eric is putting up a huge grape arbor, big enough to have a picnic table underneath.
Canning/ Food Preservation--won two red ribbons (2nd place) for apricot/pineapple jam, and homemade raspberry syrup, at the county fair. I know it sounds silly, but it made me feel really happy to get those two little second prizes. I've been putting up pickles, brandied black cherries, plum jam, etc, both for ourselves, and with an eye toward entering again next year.
TURNS OUT IT WAS A HUNDRED GRAND. Turns out the contents of the trailer was a race car worth a cool MILLION.
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/08/08192008_Vintage-race-car-recovered.cfm
I would love to say that I am enough of an Enlightened Being that I am not completely envious and jealous of Nosy Neighbor/s good fortune, but it would be a bald-faced lie. Am wrestling with my moral conscience, but so far she's just been doing a lot of whining and pitching a tantrum on the floor....
Here's the Cliff Notes version of the rest of it:
Family--doing well. Cam is in Texas with Eric's Mom. I expect at least a week of deprogramming once he returns :) Have gotten into the swing of a routine with my mother (she's in lock down dementia care facility), Eric working like crazy putting the new windows in our house, Chuck and Eunice having a rough go of it (he's back in the hospital as of yesterday. Signed Rachel up for Kindergarten today--she is so excited, and I can't believe she'll be off to school this September! Took Victoria, my Mom, and Rachel shopping today for school clothes for the girls. I am going to be helping with Pat's Mom, Miss Kay, in the next few months, as a part time companion, and I'm looking forward to that.
Farm--is in FULL SWING: Hauled off the last 1.4 TONS of trash and crap left by the previous owners. It is wonderful to have just OUR stuff here now, and have room to park in the barn, and waking room in the garage. I've found that the recent fight with the neighbors actually has been very freeing--I no longer worry so much about what they think--I am much more focused on what is going to meet the needs of the farm, and less about aesthetics.
Chickens--ate our first bird yesterday. Eric didn't relish the hatchet bit, and I sat and thought deep philosophical things while I dressed the carcass (in between wondering "What IS that weird thing?" while I dumped the viscera into a bucket.). Free range chicken is chewier and leaner than grocery store birds--it was delicious with garlic and chives, served over a salad.
Turkeys and Ducks--all four turkeys looking much better now I have them on higher protein food. Ducks have started laying eggs. Hooray! :)
Garden--planted but pathetic. Turns out the feed store gave me the wrong soil type for the raised beds. I'm adding lime and organic compost, and it should start to really be great by next spring. Have about 200 square feet. Now have deer fence around it, and have gotten some onions, herbs, and potatoes harvested.
Fruit--have two enormous black cherry trees that went crazy this year. Plums are almost ready, have four apple trees Will be using our cool big cider press in a few weeks when I'm hosting a cider-pressing party. Bring your own containers :) Eric is putting up a huge grape arbor, big enough to have a picnic table underneath.
Canning/ Food Preservation--won two red ribbons (2nd place) for apricot/pineapple jam, and homemade raspberry syrup, at the county fair. I know it sounds silly, but it made me feel really happy to get those two little second prizes. I've been putting up pickles, brandied black cherries, plum jam, etc, both for ourselves, and with an eye toward entering again next year.