Homestead mailing list

[Keith B <bartermn AT epix.net>]

Bevanron wrote:
> Hello everyone of old,

> Anyway, the kids are grown and gone now, and Ron and I have become empty
> nesters.  I'm not sure how much of a homesteader I am anymore-but I
> still have chickens and rabbits, still garden, and still live in the
> same rickety old house.


Hey Bev!
Good to "see" ya again.

Not sure if I qualify as a homesteader anymore either, as we sold the 
cows and butchered the hogs last fall. The barn is in the slow process 
of becoming a woodshop. We did keep the chickens and of course once you 
have barn cats they remain. I just talked to my sister yesterday and she 
is going to let us keep a pig at her place this year. I was surprised a 
bit when she said yes because we've refused to raise them for other 
family members since Gin's brother talked us into keeping one for him 15 
years back. He was supposed to help with feed and chores ...

The seedlings are finally out of the office and greenhouse and in the 
garden. We've had a few nice rainy days lately so they are growing like 
weeds. Don't ask what the weeds are growing like. :(

We took a "real" vacation for the first time in twenty years a couple 
months ago. We spent a week at my brother's place in Tennessee. Of 
course, it was a working vacation; I helped Steve insulate and drywall 
the house he's building for his son, and we built his wife an ironing 
board cabinet and then I spent a couple days working with my other 
brother Rick (an electrician and plumber) who lives about twenty miles 
away from Steve and Sher. Rick was working on a job right on the shores 
of the Tennessee River. That was cool.

The log cabin is almost finished. I'm currently preparing the bathroom 
shower for tile. Maybe this is the year we move in. :)

Our son is still "camping" in the house (in my new office) after 
returning home, "for a couple months" two years ago.

Time for me to go to work. It's nice to be working at home again. I 
finished a large (600 sq.ft.) deck last week for a former BIL. I am 
supposed to start a siding job next week. I'm hoping to be ready to hook 
up the water to the cabin before I do. We're still waiting on the 
bathroom vanity countertop that we ordered six weeks ago. Other than 
that and the tile in the shower, I need a kitchen sink faucet, a water 
heater and the upstairs bathroom fixtures.