Update
Well, it's been about 6 months since I posted an update. The biggest reason for my "absence" is time. I spend precious little on the computer these days. When I do, I'm researching battery chargers for my tractor, or chicken breeds, or how/where to buy kerosene, how to make your own bead board or something like that. Not to mention craigslist (I'd love to find a low cost generator that would meet our basic needs). I try to scan Facebook and Google+. It helps immensely that I have apps on my phone for that, so when I'm waiting for an appointment or stuck in the line at the store I can whip out my smartphone and catch up on the lives of my friends. I even post occasionally there, but again, it's about time...
So where am I spending my time? The usual... Working around the house, in the workshop, at our house in Waltham. I've also been doing substitute teaching. It's been surprisingly fun, expectedly challenging and irritatingly last minute. I typically get phone calls at 6:20am, to be there for 8am. Luckily R has not be away on a business trip, as getting myself ready as well as chasing the kids around to get them ready would be near impossible.
Speaking of which, chasing the kids around has been annoyingly time consuming since the start of the new year. We spent *all* fall, getting the kids in good habits and constantly reinforcing them and more often than not a system of financial gains (allowance) and penalties (fines) had been working amazingly well. However, after the holiday break, it's all gone to hell in a handbasket and the kids seem to have lost all clues and incentives to actually get up and get ready in the morning as well as following their afternoon routines after school. Sadly, we've kind of given up. We've exhausted our options and implicitly admitted defeat. Now we literally have to babysit the two of them in the morning to get up, get dressed, make their beds and go downstairs. When properly motivated, it's a 5 minute process. When not properly motivated, it takes about 15 minutes. If we don't sit on them the whole time, it can take 45 minutes to an hour. Quite honestly, there is no upper end to the time limit on this problem. They distract each other terribly and my son can be distracted by a dust mote for hours, so he doesn't really need any additional excuse. So the kids are a timesuck on daily routines.
Now is the time of year I usually plunge into an intensive project to build something for R for her b-day. The last two years it's been a custom made cabinet in the mud room (they both turned out rather well). This year she's been pushing hard for movement in the carriage house. So I'm going to be taking down the bead board that covers the walls of our workshop, putting in proper wiring, then insulation as well as tackling a window or two in the process (likely reframing them and re-shingling the outside around them). I might even install a hood for work on syruping, or stuff involving noxious fumes.
Speaking of syruping, that season is swiftly approaching and last year it was all-consuming for 6 weeks. I'm going to be smart and not tap as many trees (or as large) this year. So hopefully we'll have *far* less to process.
As syrup season comes to a close, we'll be getting new chicks again this year. Chickens follow a cycle. They grow for 18-20 weeks, then they start laying for 12 months, then they molt (which interrupts the laying), then they lay less for the next 12 months, then molt again and lay a *lot* less. Most chickens aren't kept more than 18 months to 2 1/2 years, depending on how serious the farmer is about getting the most eggs. Some people don't care about the eggs and just use them as pets. They can live 10+ years easily enough under that premise. My current flock is 16 chickens, so I'm thinking to replace 8 of them each year. That way I'll always have some young ones in the prime of their laying, as well as some older ones who are slowing down a little. The 8 I will be "retiring" will give me some leeway to experiment with. For example, I don't let my chickens free-range, because I fear they will get eaten by predators. Now with these extra 8, I can give it a try. If they are eaten, then it's a worthwhile lesson. I'll need to dispose of them anyway at some point. If they survive, I may let a friend take them for the winter, as she would love to have her own, but there is the ramp up time and expense of them. So I might be able to corrupt her into having some of her own.
So where am I spending my time? The usual... Working around the house, in the workshop, at our house in Waltham. I've also been doing substitute teaching. It's been surprisingly fun, expectedly challenging and irritatingly last minute. I typically get phone calls at 6:20am, to be there for 8am. Luckily R has not be away on a business trip, as getting myself ready as well as chasing the kids around to get them ready would be near impossible.
Speaking of which, chasing the kids around has been annoyingly time consuming since the start of the new year. We spent *all* fall, getting the kids in good habits and constantly reinforcing them and more often than not a system of financial gains (allowance) and penalties (fines) had been working amazingly well. However, after the holiday break, it's all gone to hell in a handbasket and the kids seem to have lost all clues and incentives to actually get up and get ready in the morning as well as following their afternoon routines after school. Sadly, we've kind of given up. We've exhausted our options and implicitly admitted defeat. Now we literally have to babysit the two of them in the morning to get up, get dressed, make their beds and go downstairs. When properly motivated, it's a 5 minute process. When not properly motivated, it takes about 15 minutes. If we don't sit on them the whole time, it can take 45 minutes to an hour. Quite honestly, there is no upper end to the time limit on this problem. They distract each other terribly and my son can be distracted by a dust mote for hours, so he doesn't really need any additional excuse. So the kids are a timesuck on daily routines.
Now is the time of year I usually plunge into an intensive project to build something for R for her b-day. The last two years it's been a custom made cabinet in the mud room (they both turned out rather well). This year she's been pushing hard for movement in the carriage house. So I'm going to be taking down the bead board that covers the walls of our workshop, putting in proper wiring, then insulation as well as tackling a window or two in the process (likely reframing them and re-shingling the outside around them). I might even install a hood for work on syruping, or stuff involving noxious fumes.
Speaking of syruping, that season is swiftly approaching and last year it was all-consuming for 6 weeks. I'm going to be smart and not tap as many trees (or as large) this year. So hopefully we'll have *far* less to process.
As syrup season comes to a close, we'll be getting new chicks again this year. Chickens follow a cycle. They grow for 18-20 weeks, then they start laying for 12 months, then they molt (which interrupts the laying), then they lay less for the next 12 months, then molt again and lay a *lot* less. Most chickens aren't kept more than 18 months to 2 1/2 years, depending on how serious the farmer is about getting the most eggs. Some people don't care about the eggs and just use them as pets. They can live 10+ years easily enough under that premise. My current flock is 16 chickens, so I'm thinking to replace 8 of them each year. That way I'll always have some young ones in the prime of their laying, as well as some older ones who are slowing down a little. The 8 I will be "retiring" will give me some leeway to experiment with. For example, I don't let my chickens free-range, because I fear they will get eaten by predators. Now with these extra 8, I can give it a try. If they are eaten, then it's a worthwhile lesson. I'll need to dispose of them anyway at some point. If they survive, I may let a friend take them for the winter, as she would love to have her own, but there is the ramp up time and expense of them. So I might be able to corrupt her into having some of her own.