Homestead mailing list

[Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

Wow; it's nice to see some of the old timers still here. I've been checking 
in once in a while, but it didn't look like much traffic here.
Not much happening with me. My mother got sick and required a lot of help 
from me, so I sort of let the farm go for a few years.  She died a couple of 
years ago, and I'm trying to get back on track, but I've lost a lot of my 
steam. I've had some health issues that I'm trying to straighten out. I still 
have cows and sheep and a big garden, but I dropped out of the local farmers 
market and local farming groups and never got back into it.
Talk about hard to get someone to do work! My electric lines from the pole to 
the house are old and about to self-destruct. I've been looking for an 
electrician for a couple of years. I can't even get them to come out and look 
at the job! We've had a boom here with natural gas. Anyone with a little land 
has leased it to the gas companies, so there's a lot more money around.It's 
nice to see farmland finally paying off. It's a pleasant surprise to see that 
a lot of farmers are continuing to farm, even when they have enough money to 
retire. A lot of contractors are picking and choosing what jobs they want to 
do, and I guess mine doesn't look like fun. I've gotten my little bit of the 
gas money, so I'm more financially comfortable for a while.

My kids are growing up: my son is now 20 and left home for a job (but still 
comes back every weekend with his laundry). My daughter will be going away to 
college in the fall. So I'll be all alone...I don't know if that's a good 
thing or a bad thing. I'm getting tired of being 'mom' and I'm ready to trade 
in my "Mom car" for a sports car (convertible, of course). I don't know yet 
what I'll do with my new, childless freedom. Probably just putter in my 
garden.
Lynn WigglesworthCowbridge FarmTioga Co. PA
> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:57:39 -0500
> From: don.bowen AT earthlink.net
> To: brierpatch AT yahoogroups.com; Homestead_Friends AT yahoogroups.com; 
> homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [Homestead] Things
> 
> I spent from the end of October to the end of February mostly sitting 
> around and walking only with crutches after leg surgery to straighten 
> the leg.  During that time I played with the radio, spending time on the 
> HF and 2M bands.  Before surgery I put some metal in the air.  I also 
> started maintaining the local repeater and I am the net control for the 
> Sunday night net.  We can be found in the Ozarks on 147.390+, no tone.  
> I am an electronics engineer but with little RF experience so more 
> things to learn.  I also spent the time and passed my Extra Class 
> license plus becoming a VE.
> 
> I also spent time designing a house that we hope to build this summer if 
> we can get builders to respond.  This is the Ozarks and there is always 
> something more interesting to do than work.  We had three that bothered 
> to come by and only one has bothered to send a bid.  We were told by the 
> bank and others that builders are hungry but we have not seen it.  As 
> part of that I was recently given enough Oak to build the stairs and 
> some of the trim.  The builder that appears to want the job will more 
> than likely get it.  It is a small county, the builder's wife is the 
> nurse that prepped me for surgery and his mother in law was our 
> grandson's third grade teacher.  His partner is the cousin of the friend 
> who is giving me the Oak.
> 
> I also caught myself up on technology so researched the world of SBCs 
> and thought up some projects but those will have to wait. Arduino, 
> PIC-AXE, Raspberry-Pi, BeagleBone, oh my.
> 
> One of the more interesting things I looked into was 3D printing, I 
> think that is a real game changer in many ways.  Prices are way down, 
> some good ones under $1000.  Some are built with parts from the same 
> printer.  Want a high capacity magazine?  Someone will have written a 
> program for one and you can print all you want.  Why worry if wears out 
> quickly because it is PVC, print more.
> 
> I have also been to the Bay area three times, Los Angles twice and 
> Denver three times, over the last year dealing with family issues. I 
> have a very good friend whom I would do anything for who is getting up 
> in years and is ailing.  I suspect I will be making a few more trips 
> before a final trip in the not too distant future.
> 
> Also our almost 3 year old grandson has a very rare form of cancer in 
> his eye.  He is responding well to treatment but those treatments 
> require my son to make trips to Sloan Kettering in New York.  They think 
> there is only one more trip then the treatment will continue in Los Angles.
> 
> My sister in law fell and shattered her leg into her knee joint a couple 
> of days before I went in for surgery.  She had severe injuries and 
> required several surgeries.  She was about two or three weeks behind me 
> in recovery and brags that she has one more screw than I do in her leg, 
> I am missing a screw.  She was a heavy smoker until just a couple of 
> years ago when she was diagnosed with COPD and that was a leading cause 
> of the extent of the injury.  My doctor said that smoking is one of the 
> worst things you can do for your bones especially if you are female.
> 
> Other than that it have been a slow winter and spring is reluctant to 
> arrive.
> 
> -- 
> Don Bowen           AD0BR
> "A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without 
> reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom."
> -Michel De Montaigne 1588
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
> 
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