Reflections of katlupe: July 2012

Sunday, July 29, 2012

What Happens After They Grow Up?

Last night we watched a movie I had recently ordered from Amazon, Cross Creek. It starred Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn and Peter Coyote. It is a movie about best selling author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling. If you are not familiar with this story, (it is about a young boy in the book), in the movie, Cross Creek, it is about a young girl who has a pet fawn. The fawn starts getting into gardens and creating trouble as it grows up. After all, it is wild animal. The father warns his daughter that the pet fawn has to be kept fenced or it will have to killed. He tells her it does not know how to live in the wild now because she made a pet of it. People depend on their gardens to live, and a deer will destroy their gardens and people will starve. Of course, the deer ends up having to be shot.It destroys the father and daughter's relationship forever.

This movie made me think about a situation I am in at present. A wild animal that is taken in as a baby and treated as a pet does not know how to go out into the wild and live like it is supposed to. It may go out into the wild and then come back to the home and try to live in both worlds. But it cannot. In my own life, children in my family were not really parented in the normal way. As much as I loved my mother, she spoiled all her grandchildren and would never punish them or ever make them face up to anything they did wrong. I don't know why she was that way with her grandchildren as she was not like that with my brother and me, her own children.

I raised my own son so he was taught right from wrong, even when my mother excused him from something wrong he had done. He has turned out to be a honest, caring adult. I am proud of him. The other grandchildren are another story. My parents parented them on week-ends and school vacations and all summer. In fact, they came to my parents' house as soon as school was out for the summer and did not return home until it was time to go back to school.

I am not making judgement on the parents involved, but it makes me see the comparison. A child that is not taught right from wrong, will grow up causing trouble and hurting people. Stealing, lying, among other traits not usually smiled upon in our society. Not to mention becoming a parent themselves and not knowing how. If parents or grandparents think they are helping a child by not punishing or reprimanding them when they are young, they are sadly mistaken. Not nurturing them to become an adult who genuinely cares or feels compassion for others is the worst thing a parent can do.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Being Stranded With No Vehicle

Truck Repairs

I haven't been writing much on my blogs because my father had a stroke and is in the hospital. Of course, it happened the same time our truck (and only vehicle) had broken down. I cannot complain about this truck. We bought it in 2006 and it is a 2003 Dodge Dakota and at that time it had less than 20,000 miles on it. We both loved it immediately! Never had one problem with it. No repairs or being stranded somewhere. Until now.............. I am lucky that I have some wonderful, giving family members. If it wasn't for my cousins, I wouldn't have been able to get to the hospital.

Vestal, NY Museum

Now the reason for our breakdown was due to the brakes line rusting and the brake fluid was spurting out. We had gone to Vestal a couple of weeks ago to see some grave sites of various family members we had been doing research on. The brake fluid light came on. So we stopped and got some and added it. It worked fine. We went to my father in law's house and came home.

Our truck carries a load of 34 bales of hay.

A couple of days later, when my husband returned with our load of hay, he had no brakes. Yikes! New York state is all hills. I kid you not! Without brakes he could not go to the auto parts store to buy anything. He had to order them online and wait, and wait.............and wait some more. Then he'd have to order something else, another part or a tool to do the job. Very difficult time for us. We lived without a vehicle for 8 months in the past, but we were better prepared. I also had a friend who took me shopping and we had a guy who would deliver hay. Our horse feed was also delivered by a local feed store. Now we were not prepared at all and had even gone through most of my supplies and preps. I know what I will doing in the next few months.......PREPPING!!!!

Our 2003 Dodge Dakota

I am happy to report that yesterday, my husband and my cousin, Gerald worked on the truck and today he has gone to the store. Testing it. I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying it works fine. I really NEED to be at the hospital with my father. He is 93 years old and he needs his family nearby. There is a chance he will get better enough to go home, but not really counting on that happening. The thing is that he thinks at times I am my mother (I look like her), so he looks to me for everything.

My son, Jeffrey and my father.

I know his time is short now. Having a stroke is the first step in this process. I am ready only because he told me this months ago. He said nobody in his family lives this long. A few months back when his doctor tried to give him medication for his blood clot he refused it. He said he was ready to go be with my mother. And I know he means it. My hope is that he will be able to go home and die there. It is what he truly wants. Not to die in the hospital.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Bush Beans Are Surviving

Bush beans surviving the heat!

The lawn is a little dried up. Big brown spots all over the place. Not like any other years that I can remember. I read some of my past blogs and I would mention from time to time about having dry conditions. I can tell you, it was NEVER like this! I suppose if I had watered my garden every evening, it'd be in better shape. But I am afraid of our well going dry, since it is a hand dug shallow well. I can't risk that, even for food. My horses drink a lot of water, we drink a lot of water and then of course, we like to take more showers in the hot weather and that doesn't count laundry and dish washing. So the garden has suffered.

These are heirloom bush green beans.

I see a lot of beans coming on these plants today. They are not big enough for picking yet. But we will be out there picking them very soon. Not sure yet if there will be enough to can or just eat fresh. My son loves them and we can go through a lot of them. During this past year, we used every jar I had canned. Usually my husband and I don't go through that many. I am hoping that I can replenish our stock this year so we have more than enough to get through the coming year. One extra person made a big difference in our stocked up food and supplies.

Lots of blossoms and beans are appearing now!

The reason I like bush beans instead of pole beans is because I don't have to fasten them up on anything. I have never been good at building the trellis or poles to connect them to. Bush beans grow easy for me and I found success with them from our first garden. Since then I have grown them every year. When I harvest them I sit on a stool or outdoor chair and move it on down the line. There is no way that I can stoop or bend to pick any longer. It works for me.

Hot and dry, but we've got beans!

I am planning on purchasing beans locally to supplement our supplies. I am positive I will not get enough to can as much as we need this year. This drought has really set us back, as well as having used more of our supplies than usual. My son will be moving into his own place within the next few weeks and then we will be using less again. I am thankful to be getting anything from these plants, and it really helped that we got rain yesterday. Thank you Lord, for the rain!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

What Is The Point Anyway?

Not as green or colorful as usual this year with no rain!

I know I have neglected this blog, and all my blogs actually. This blog, on blogger seems to be having some kind of issues and makes it hard to complete my post. I will try to make it through this post. The reasons for neglecting my blog is that I have had much stress in my life in recent months. I am tired of the stress and trying to figure out what to do about each stress point.

It seems that we keep getting hit with bad times, one after the other. We have no way out of these problems. It is easy for others to tell you why or how or what you should have done. Or they say that bad times doesn't last. But for us, they do. If a problem happened that I could fix, it would be so much easier. But I can't. It has been making me think about alternatives to this life. No matter how hard I try, I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I am not meant to be a homesteader. It is a hard life. It has never become any easier for us. It should have gotten easier as time went by. Instead it has gotten to be too much

I have struggled over the years trying to make a living online. Selling my husband's music cd, selling my eBooks, selling ads on my blogs, writing paid posts on my blogs, selling one eBay, Bonanza, Amazon, craigslist, and putting affiliate ads on my blogs. Trying to sell guitar strings was the hardest of all, mostly because we bought inventory of quality strings, thinking that with all the guitar players in the world, someone would need strings. Now I am tired of that too. Trying to sell online when others sell the exact same thing way below our cost. What is the point?

I am not sure what I am going to be doing. Right now, I feel change in the air for me. My son will be moving into his own apartment soon. Then I will see what is going to happen here.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Remember Carla Emery

My newest blog post on my new Homesteading on the Internet site is Carla Emery Inspired Me. Please join me there and read the newest post!

This is the newest book that will out in November of 2012. Have to get put on this list.

This is the book I have and love it. But it is kind of falling apart. So I would like to replace it with the newest edition.

Monday, July 02, 2012

An Organized House Is An Efficient Home

Our house looks big, but short on space!

I have been reading lately about a family that lives in a tiny house. I do not live in one myself........not technically. Our house is a two story farm house that was built in 1850. It is not as big as it looks. With an extra person staying with us for a few years now, we are squashed in here! Soon it will be just the two of us again. As sad as I am about it, our dog, Nikita, at 14 years of age, won't be sticking around for many more years either. We have decided not to get any new pets or critters of any sort. And when our present ones die we will not be replacing them either. You wouldn't think one dog and three cats take up much space, but they do.

Batteries need their own room and to be in a box!

Another thing that will give us more room is finishing our room for the batteries. Putting them downstairs and out of the upstairs. That would free up a lot of space. No more cramped feelings! Before any of that happens, I have to live with what I have now. The first step is to get rid of any and everything that takes up space and is not being used. No matter what it is. Going through box after box of things and dropping them off at the thrift store or selling them on eBay. Two ways I have of disposing of the excess.

One of the hunters now!

I used to think I would not want a tiny house. When I stopped to think about it though, I realized that I was living already like I was in a tiny house. Some of my problems with my house have been the mice. That made it impossible to put anything on shelves like I dreamed of doing. My three cats are awesome hunters. They get some every day, but outside. In the house, the mice appear in places where the cats have no access to. Like inside the pantry, the door is kept closed from the kitchen because the idea is for it to be cooler than the rest of the house.

Our heating stove

My two wood stoves take up a good part of the rooms they are in. The wood stove in our living room is on a large hearth and takes up almost 1/4 of the whole room. Our wood is usually stacked on the hearth also so it is not wasted space. I guess I can see why people take them out because they'd rather more room. I will not take it out, as I'd rather have heat, then room, any day! I am planning the rooms to be efficient so you can get what you want or do what you want quickly. Cooking and cleaning up needs to be easier and quicker. Once you have your whole house organized, it should run efficiently. I see it getting easier as I work on it. An organized house is an efficient home!

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