Home Away From Home…

March 25, 2016

After Charming retired several years ago, he decided we needed a new RV camper so that we could take a trip across the United States.  (I didn’t bother weighing in on this particular decision because Charming had a camper when we got married and we’d traded up a time or two to accommodate family trips, so having a camper was like having an arm…we’d always had one.)  This time, we traded down as it would just be Charming and I on the trip and smaller is definitely better when you’re dragging your home behind you.  

Unfortunately, “The Big Adventure” (i.e. the trip across America) hasn’t yet materialized.  That little thing called “living” has gotten in the way.  At the time he decided that we needed the camper, I was still working so we didn’t have a big chunk of time to devote to The Big Adventure.  Shortly after I quit working, we started toying with the idea of buying land in an area that was more suited to our lifestyle.  We checked out several areas in Florida and Virginia.  I really love the mountains; Charming really likes warm weather.  We didn’t really have that many hard requirements, just pleasant weather most of the time and a place to grow a large garden.  We compromised on a Virginia property that meets many of our requirements…water for Charming, mountains for me, no oppressive heat in summer for Charming, room for a large garden for me, and peace and quiet for both of us.

The biggest stumbling block with this property for both of us is the house.  As I’ve said, it’s a “pre-fab” and not in great shape.  However, as with any home purchase, compromises must be made and the house was it.  So we are prepared for the long haul of renovating the house.  We travel to the property on a weekly basis and spend one to three days working there.

Luckily for us, Charming made the decision a couple of years ago to purchase the camper. A month or so ago, we moved it to the property, and I am so thankful each time we stay there.  It has everything we need to make life much more comfortable while we fix up the house.  (Prior to moving the camper there, we took day trips to the property and I found it necessary to “go” in the woods...numerous times.  Trust me, life is much better when you have a camper.)  The camper even has a TV and radio, so that we can watch movies after a day's work.  There are also outside speakers for the radio, which allows us to have music while we work outside.

Preparation for a trip to the farm includes me pre-cooking a couple of casseroles and other easy-to-fix foods that only require heating in the microwave.  Breakfast is cereal and milk.  Lunches consist of ham sandwiches and chips.  Snacks are fruit, microwave popcorn, or cookies/cakes that I baked at home.  We make do with a bit of preparation and the knowledge that we will eventually be moving into the house.  Since the camper is small, cleaning is a breeze and takes very little time.  That allows us to spend most of our time actually working to get the property in order.  Below are some pictures of our cozy home away from home.

Our "living room" includes a sofa with a lovely view of the bedroom.
We generally keep the curtains closed, but they have tie backs to hold
them open and let more light inside.  The camper came with a fairly
good-sized table, but we decided to purchase smaller folding TV
trays to put our food on when we eat.  These trays are kept behind
the sofa when not in use.

The bedroom has cabinets beside the bed where we hang our farm clothes.
There is a storage bin, as well as storage drawers, under the foot of the bed.
A ledge that overhangs the under-bed storage provides a great place for Jax
to sleep.  He has a nice towel and a pillow to keep him comfy all night.

The kitchen area has a TV, radio, propane stove/oven, sink, and microwave oven.
The TV pivots so we can either watch TV from the bed or on the sofa.  The camper
also has outside speakers so we can listen to the radio while we are working outside.

The potty in all its glory.  (Sure beats a trip to the woods.)
There is a skylight, with a fan/vent, over the shower.

The sink and refrigerator/freezer, with storage closet on the left.
The camper also came with a grill that attaches to the outside
of the camper, so we can cook outside as well.

What’s This Girl Gotta Do To Lose Weight?

March 19, 2016

Last week, we had a tree removal company take down that very large pine tree in the yard at the farm.  The two guys (father and son) who cut down the tree did a wonderful job.  They did exactly as Charming requested and did it in less time than they had said it would take.  (Although Charming insisted that I stay in the camper where I’d be “safe”, I was still able to take some pictures of the tree cutting process from the back window of the camper.)  After the tree was cut down, we spent the remaining two days cutting up the tree limbs, cutting the trunk of the tree into sections, and moving the leftover debris to a location at the edge of the property.  We ended up with three large sections of tree trunk that Charming will use for lumber in the future (he wants to buy a portable saw mill after we get settled in the house).  He cut the tree limbs into firewood that will dry out and then be used to heat our home after we move there.  

A large part of our time during this week’s trip was spent clearing up the area where Charming plans to build a large storage shed to store all of our excess “plunder” (as my sister, Joyce, would call it).  We stacked wood, filled in holes that were left by the pointy limbs as the tree hit the ground, filled in holes left by the removal of old clothes line posts, filled still more holes used by the previous landowners as fire pits, and started preparation on the site of the future storage shed.

I’m always whining about not being able to lose weight.  It seems that no matter how much less food I eat, my body tries to hang onto that weight.  Well, let me tell you, after a few days of stacking wood, moving brush, filling holes and barely noticing when it was time to eat, I came home three pounds lighter than when I left.  That leads me to the conclusion that living on a farm will not only give me the space to raise more healthy food; it will also force me to exercise which will make those extra pounds to come off.  So what’s this girl gotta do to lose weight?  Buy a farm and work my adoublescribble off!

                                                       

A few limbs into the tree removal process.

The top section of the tree in motion towards the ground.

The owner of the tree company uses the big saw to take down the tree trunk.

Jax wonders what happened to the tree.

"Hmmm...how do I pick up these sticks and run with them?"

My weight loss plan...stacking firewood between standing pine trees.

 

Charming Farming…

March 1, 2016

Yesterday we got back home after spending our first night “on the farm”.  Charming moved the camper over to the new place a week or so ago and we thought the weather was finally warm enough that our hineys wouldn’t freeze off during the night.  Even though the camper has a heater, the nights are a few degrees colder there than where we now live.

So, we got to the farm around Noon on Sunday.  (In future blog posts, I’ll be referring to the new place as “the farm” even though it has no where near the acreage or animals that a legitimate farm would have…but it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever owned so a farm it is.)  After transferring our food, tools, an extra blanket and other supplies from our truck to the camper, we had a quick lunch of gluten-free ham and biscuits, and then got to work. 

We had a list of things to accomplish…Charming wanted to take down a very, very, very tall pine tree that is next to the area where we will park our vehicles.  First, in order to cut the tree, we had to remove the clothes line which was in the line of where the tree would (hopefully) fall.  I envisioned many hours of hard labor digging up the three clothes line posts.  Luckily, with the newly purchased second-hand tractor, I didn’t even have to pick up a shovel.  Charming jumped on that tractor like he was Oliver from Green Acres.  He maneuvered the tractor’s boom thingy (I’m pretty sure this is not the technical term for this tool)  over each post and popped those things out of the ground like you’d pop frozen ice cubes out of an ice cube tray.  No hard labor for me.  Yay!

Next, Charming had plans to climb up into the tree and cut off the top section, then work down to the middle section and cut that off, before finally finishing up by cutting down the bottom section.  Keep in mind that the pine tree is probably around 70 feet tall and my Sweatie Pie (no, that’s not a misspelling, it’s what I actually call him when he’s hard at work) weighs ummmmm….let’s just say he’s a big boy (but I love every ounce of him, truly).  Keep in mind, as it will be important at the end of my story, that I repeatedly…at least seven times…asked Charming if he didn’t think it was a better idea to get a tree removal company to take down the tree rather than us attempting to do it ourselves and possibly getting injured in the process.  He assured me that, because he’d helped take down many trees for firewood when he was in his teens, it wouldn’t be a problem for him now.  To which I responded, “Well, ok then”.

So, Charming climbed up into the tree and found a good perch.  He dropped a rope, weighted with a wrench, down to me so I could tie the buck saw as well as the wrench onto the rope for him to pull back up and use to cut the tree.  He sawed for a short while and got about four inches into the tree before the sap gummed up the saw’s teeth.  At that point, he decided (hoped) that maybe he had weakened the tree enough that “Wonder Tractor” would be able to pull it over if he hooked a cable from the tree to the tractor.  So he sent down the rope again and I tied the cable to the rope and sent it back up to him to fasten to the tree.  Then he climbed down the tree to hook the cable up to the tractor and started to move the tractor slowly.  A small limb that crossed the cable broke off, but the tree didn’t budge an inch.  However, during the attempt, the cable had snapped and flew up into the tree.  Charming had to get off the tractor and knock the cable out of the tree with a ladder and a long piece of lumber.  He climbed back up the tree to refasten the cable, then climbed back down to give it a second try.  Again, the tree didn’t budge.  This didn’t seem to be nearly as much fun as pulling up the clothes line posts. 

I can say one thing’s for certain with my Charming.  He won’t beat his head against a brick wall (or a tree, in this case) if he knows he’s fighting a losing battle.  Since it was getting dark, he decided to climb the tree one final time to tether the cable from the tree to the tractor.  This would make the tree lean in the direction he wanted it to fall, just in case the tree decided to fall during the night.  We had a late supper in the camper.  After that, Charming and I were so tired (Charming from climbing up and down the tree and me from the stress of watching him climb up and down the tree) that we went to bed shortly thereafter.  Charming got up around midnight and again at around three o’clock.  I, being a light sleeper, woke up whenever he got up.  Finally, he ate some cereal around 5:00 a.m. and then took Jax outside to roam around the property.  (It’s amazing, you can do this when you live on a farm because the nearest neighbor lives a whole field away from you…and no one will think you’re some kind of roaming lunatic or a criminal.)

When Charming came back, he woke me up and said, “You know, I think maybe we should just get a tree company to come in and take that tree down.”  To which I responded, “Sure, Honey, I think that’s an excellent idea.” 

And the moral of this story is…If you feed an idea to your dear husband enough times, he’ll begin to think he came up with that idea on his own.

Charming lines up the "boom thingy" with the clothes line post.

Lifting the boom thingy makes the clothes line post pop out of the ground.

Then a quick turn around on the tractor to put the post next to the shed.

If you look really close you'll see Charming way up there in the tree (top center).

During the day Jax found a girl friend.  She belongs to our nearest neighbor.