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[DSanner106 AT aol.com]

Hi Lynn, Don et al, 
    It is really nice to see  familiar names from the board checking in and 
filling everyone in. I  had been forced to the city to get a real job a few 
years back and had sold  the farmhouse and 5 acres to a local fellow on a 
lease purchase deal. Looks like  he may not have the balloon payment and I 
may be getting it back. I am getting  rather excited about it actually as I 
am 
in a better position now to do the  necessary upgrades to the house and my 
youngest daughter left for college this  year. My buyer still may pull off a 
refi and be able to buy it, but I am fine if  he doesn't. This was my 
grandfathers farmhouse he built during the depression,  so was really 
difficult 
to give up but I was unable to buy out other family  members who had a share 
in it when it was passed on, so it is a second shot  at keeping it in the 
family. The house does need a bit of work (heating, roof  etc) but is good 
structurally. I would have about 5 acres to work with plus a  portion of 
wooded 
land. My uncle took the large pastures as his share and leases  them to 
large farmers in the area but the home property already had the large  farm 
gardens and formerly fruit and nut trees. I do need to replace the trees  and 
repair fencing but not too much to handle. It has a full size barn which is  
currently being rented to a neighbor as storage for farm equip but I can 
take  that back at will. In the mean time though, I do need to repair some 
boards etc.  on that as well. 
    I hope everyone will keep checking in with updates, I  have wondered 
often about what has happened to all 
the old members of the homesteading board. I will post an update when and  
if I get the farmhouse back.
 
       Drew in Ga
 
 
In a message dated 4/19/2013 7:09:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com writes:

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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