Post yojam inspiration

I am fat, but man - am I ever happy. I love my wonderful, special, so full of love life. I feel like I am emerging from a cramped chrysalis and am slowly coming back to life . My serious body pains are fading, and my mind is clear. I'm giddy to get up each day, and fall tired into my ridiculously comfortable bed with my pack surrounding me each night.

Glenda visited briefly last week & snapped this pic. 

And we're gettin' a new puppy- Brodhisattva - in a few weeks when he is old enough. A plott hound mix. 

I will heal! I'm not done with this life yet!

Stuffs

There is so much stuff popping up all over! It's like a magical wonderland. I acquired a guide to wild flowers and trees and am slogging through trying to find stuff I see. Not as easy as I would have thought. Hundreds, or maybe thousands of leaves, trees, flowers, fungi, bugs and Birds. 

Searching for morels every day now... Found some other neat fungi, and always hopeful for a sighting.

We got some great info at the mother earth news fair last weekend, and just couldn't get out of there without 2 new books. I read one already, managing your woods. The art of fermentation was n's pick, and 2 months ago I would've poured over that one, but now I am so focused on what is growing, the fermenting is gonna have to wait!

The grapes have buds, I do believe I see the hops sprouting, and my garden is underway.

Fruit cup's new home has been tidied up, and I placed some tikis out, and the fire pit with chairs.

M is growing his beard, and it looks so manly and rustic. I am growing out my hair, and I look, well.... Unkempt. Ah, such is life. I'd post a pic but... No.

The gutters were installed yesterday, so now I can begin landscaping near the house. Big stuff! 

M has been settling into the workshop, and everything is taking shape around here! It's fucking fantastic. We pinch ourselves hourly, it seems too good.

We grabbed some old vinyl, too- trail songs that are kind if inspiring, and I am picking up fingerpicking again after a long hiatus. 

It all feels good. So amazingly good. 

Entrance to the veggie garden, also where the rocks get relocated as I dig in...  I put out this sundial my sister bought for me some 20+ years ago. It finally gets to se the sun!

<3

Settling in!

Michael arrived safely on 3/31, with yet another trailer full of our crap. Man we have alot of stuff. I cannot believe we actually packed it all up an moved it here. We really did it! The house closed that day, and M signed all the papers and drove down here afterwards.

Now it is time to settle in and adjust. OMG it is nice to have him here, finally!!!

Some stuff we accomplished since he arrived home so far...

• Got the trailer unloaded and returned on time!
• We have tetris-ed our crap and are using the "Possum House" for storage for now, which is what we have named it, because I saw a little family of possums living underneath it when I first got here. I do think they have since relocated, probably because of Roy & Emma. 
• We have really pared down what is in the basement, and created a second "office" space and bar/lounge area down there for now. We definitely want to finish the bathroom, walls, floors, etc, but for now, we will use as is.
• We have made a great start in putting the Workshop together! workbenches, lighting, shelves, etc.
• The "Barn", is now where all outdoors management equipment is going.
• We took a day trip to Lowes and purchased a new kitchen faucet and awesome showerhead, and M promptly installed them both. Let me tell you, his caulk skills are beyond compare ;)
• The range and hood we had purchased finally came in and got installed. 
• The kitchen just really needs some trim finish around the tile backsplash, and its pretty much beautiful! We picked out a cute piece of trim, and we plan to stain it to match the cabinets.
• We also got some wire fencing at lowes and put that out around our garden. The perimeter is just under 150 feet, and while we still have some tinkering to do, such as fashion a better gate, etc, the garden is ready for action, and 
• I planted our onions, shallots, garlic, cauliflower, lettuce mix, radishes and peas. And the hops went in, too, but in another location, on the grape arbor.
• I also had M steal a bunch of ivy & wild geranium from our old yard, and I put that in here, too. Can never have enough of those...
• We are trying yet another guy to install the gutters on the house, fingers crossed that he actually shows!
• I am ready to treat the decks, I spent a BUNCH of time scrubbing them before M got here, and we are just waiting for the weather to cooperate!

In fun stuff, our fruit trees flowered, and we think they are apple, and maybe 1 pear. I spent my first morning today hunting for morels, and while I didn't see any, I found some very interesting stuff on the property. Trails, old jars of what look like grapes, an old log cabin, and lots of plants I have never seen before. M saw his first wild turkey ever, too! And Baloo's neighbor friend-dog hung out with him all morning, and came along for a bit of my morel hunting, too. He's a cutie.

M is growing a beard, and I am going to screw around with getting my hair to be simpler. I love the fun colors, but I do not love the amount of effort. It was nice when I could use the time as an escape, but now that I have no need to escape from anything... It really just seems silly !

In not so fun stuff, Oscar cut his foot pretty deep, so he is in the cone, so that we can get it to heal without him licking it. Lets just say that Oscar is a good boy, but he hates being in the cone and missing out on his ball time as much as I do. 

We had our first fun outing together, we had a cupla drinks at the Spoon bar in town, and then got a brew while we waited for a pizza at Dry County Brewing. 

It feels like home already :)

Luck prevails.

Not sure whose luck this us (Michael's) but I am not sure how much longer it can hold out....

Roy came home! Early Saturday morning. I woke to snow outside, and as usual, wen tto let the dogs out, with a small hope in my heart to hear Roy at the door. I opened it, and

there were tiny footprints in the snow, and just seconds later, I heard Roy crying as he ran up and in the door.

Fucking Phenomenal. I immediately gave him a can of really-tasty-but-bad-for-him-food, and took his pic and called M and cried and....

Roy came home.

So, that was a cupla days ago and he hates me already cuz I wont let him go out until M comes here TOMORROW!!!!!!

All this planning, plotting, selling, and waiting. The time has finally come!

M will be signing the final papers and driving down here for GOOD!

I am drinking a bottle of wine to celebrate! It has been a good transition, I know I learned a TON. About life, myself, patience, wanting. It has been good.

I am ready for this next chapter. My plans include: mindful living, lots and lots of nature, figuring out how EVERYTHING is made, and making it (at least once) and enjoying the moments with my very amazing family around me.

It could be that the luck is mine, but either way....I am truly grateful <3

Roy

Well, everything is falling into place. The house closes next week and Michael moves here for good, and the condo the following week, without us even having to be here. 

I should be ecstatic. But my little Roy is missing, and I fear the worst. 

The last time I remember seeing him was Saturday night as I setted in for a little spring fire and a glass of wine. I called Michael for our little chat. In the morning, he wasn't there to go out with the boys, and he wasn't at the door waiting to come in. I knew something was wrong. I am guessing he ran out when I went to get a load of wood for my fire. I am guessing something bad happened. I read that coyotes and owls have been known to take cats. Raccoons, sometimes. I made flyers and put them in every mailbox on both stewart and sparks. I put them up in the grocery, library, vets and rescues. I have walked around calling for him all over the property. 

I hope that he comes back, like so many tell me he will. But if he does not, I do know he was the best cat I have ever met, more dog than most dogs. Loyal, cuddly, liked to hike, and never gave up on trying to climb trees, even if he never got anywhere. 

We miss you something fierce, little buddy. Please come home.

No more secrets!

Finally! We can speak freely ! Michael gave his notice to his job, so we no longer need to worry about who knows what is going on in our lives... WHEW! That was hard.

So, to recap...

• We sold the restaurant (October, 2014)
• We found our dream homestead in rural North Carolina (November 2014)
• We put the house and the ski shack on the market (February 2015)
• We packed 98% of our things and I moved them to our new home (February 2015)
• We have a closing date for the house (March 2015) and ski shack (April 2015)\
• Michael's last day of office work is 3/27/15 and he will pack the last 2% of our belongings into a trailer and join me in North Carolina on 3/31/15.
• We never have to sit in DC traffic EVER AGAIN!
  

Huge truck. Cya Hoodbridge!

Our first night in the haus, the sun shone a heart over our very uncomfortable deflated air mattress.

We drove down and tidied up for the movers

M had to leave, and the Huge truck couldn't navigate our lands.
They shuttled our crap in a smaller truck in FOUR LOADS. It took F O R E V E R.

The movers left, and it was just me, two dogs, two cats and 15000 lbs of crap stacked EVERYWHERE.

But I figured out stuff and got on. Here shown celebrating my first split. Those fuckers are tough!

It alternated between snow and 55 degree days. 

I made progress.

I started seeds for my garden I have been dreaming of for so many years.

I pruned the grapes and ordered some hops too.

The boyz helped me cultivate the garden plot. I tilled a 25x35 area.
The soil looks awesome, smells awesome and feels awesome.

Roy took to accompanying us on our daily hikes.

M flew down to hang with us for a weekend! It was great fun and we drank a wee bit too much!

I tried something that reminded me that LOVE is the reason I am here.

M left to finish up everything at home, and Baloo went back to his ornery, comptrolling ways.

Snow, snow, snow!

It just keeps on snowing! It had all melted after a FANTASTIC 55 degree day, then we woke up to this! So pretty! Just a few pics.... Guess my chainsaw safety kit I ordered from amazon will be delayed again another few days! And I'm almost plum outta wood!

I listened this morning to nothing but the sounds of a woodpecker and the gurgling of a turkey? Grouse? In the not too far off distance. I am truly blessed. I keep pinching myself. 

Did I mention we have a contract on the house? Fanfuckingtastic.