Winter 2013 is Coming

Woohhhh, the last month has been a blurrr. Monica went to atlanta for 2 weeks to visit her sisters. So I had to school the kids and do everything else. Wyatt and Abbey are frustrating me in that they don't do the work I give them. I allow them the freedom to choose certain things, but give them a few things specifically. They are way behind on their history book. Time to woop some butt.

Joe came out for a week and we started on the Great Wall of Stevi. It is going to be awesome. Glad I waited for Joe as he taught me a lot while he was here. I wish he could have stayed longer. So I am going to keep building the wall on my own until some better masons come out. I'd like to build a big arch entryway, but that is beyond me at this point.

Jak started back on his reading lessons last night after a 2 month hiatus. That is how busy I have been.

I also build a little hay barn and painted it green. Hay is a hot commodity this winter after the severe drought throughout the US this year. It ought to wreak havoc in the beef and livestock market this winter.

Oh, and a Korean singer became a huge hit in America. Opa Gangnam style.

Ford F600 2 Ton Flatbed

I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since my last post. What a busy summer. Since my stone mason class, I have been collecting rocks for a big wall we are building here. It is going to be free standing at 4 feet high. I bought a 1959 Ford F600 2 Ton Flatbed the other day for getting rocks. Don and I mounted a little electric hoist on the back which can lift about 1000 lb rocks. Really cool. We have 20 loads of rock now and are waiting for my friend from KY to get out here before we start building the wall.

The smoke in the valley this summer has been awful. Raging forest fires everywhere have burnt hundreds of thousands of acres. The forest service is a bunch of idiots, to say the least. Very poorly managed.

Mikey is back in school. Abs and Wyatt wanted to homeschool this year, so they are at home. They have been helping me get rocks as their PE class. Ha, ha. They are reading history, doing spanish, learning sign language, math on Khan Academy, and watching science videos on khan academy.

We have rebuilt all of our chicken and duck coops. Still need to finish some stuff in the pasture for winter. We picked up some white peking ducks. They are not laying eggs, so we will probably eat them. They are giant with lots of meat. The boys and I have gotten plenty of wood for the winter. Monica is almost finished with her rocking chair. It is beautiful. Winter is coming.

Oh, and we found one of my favorite places in the world. Took the kids camping there last weekend. Very remote on a lake. Mikey killed birds for dinner. Lots of fun.

Stone Mason and Blacksmith Class

July was crazy. 11 great dane puppies. What a handful.

I spent a week learning to build stuff with stone. I really enjoyed that. I am starting to gather rocks for a big wall I am building at the house here. Mac and his wife were 2 amazing people. They even started their own school in VA 30 years ago. Just great people. For anyone interested, here are their sites.

Witness Tree Studio

Charles Mcraven

The following week was a week of blacksmithing. I learned a lot. Wyatt came with me and had a blast. He really wants me to get a forge now. We used coal and gas forges and made some knives, tongs, swords, and other stuff.

Anyway, just got back from the ATL. Not much has changed there. Drew and Mel built a beautiful barn and I hung out with Max and Emma a good bit. I should have booked for 2 more days, but hindsight is 20/20.

We are drinking goat milk regularly now. 1 goat puts off a lot of milk. Although they are a pain in the ass sometimes.

Utah 2012

Took the kids down to Utah for a few days. We hit Zion and hiked the virgin narrows a couple of times. What a great hike through the water and 1000 ft walls. Definitely one of the top hikes in the world. Next time we need to go up to Kolob canyon, I heard that is good. We camped at Coral Pink sand dunes again. What a beautiful place that is.

We then headed to Bryce canyon which was my first time there. It is quite beautiful, but very touristy. We did the Queen garden hike and down at the bottom some kids had made hundreds of rock cairns everywhere, even in the trees. It was very cool and creative. Kodachrome state park was a great camp spot as well.

We'll have to go to capitol reef one day. Paul said it had fruit trees growing everywhere from an old settlement.

After that we hit Bryan Head which is a neat little town up in the mountains. It was a nice break from the heat. We then stopped to pick up our new yorkie George and headed to park city for a day. Quite a nice ski resort town and lots of activities at the olympic mountain like ziplines, bobsleds, and downhills into the water. We'll probably head back there one day.

So after days of intense desert heat and sunny skies, we hit a massive hail storm on the way back in montana. It was deafening in the car for about 20 miles. I had to slow down to 15 mph on the highway. Most cars had pulled over. Crazy weather here.

Potatoes are looking great, but everything else in the garden is so so. The beans are looking decent. Tomatoes are starting to come up but I may have planted them too late.

Spring in the Bitterroot

More great weather this month. We love it here. Our garden is almost done. The potatoes started coming out of the ground today. I still need to plant the strawberries, corn, and other veggies. It has been so busy dealing with all of the animals and babies. Mia had 3 puppies and is a great mom. Aunt mimi is taking one, our friends Olin and Megan are taking one, and we are going to keep the third and have 2 breeding girls. Baylee is due in about a month with great dane puppies. I expect a big litter from her. We have about 30 baby bunnies right now. They are mowing the grass daily. We made some rabbit jerky this week. The soy sauce marinated was good. Worstechire sauce, not so good. We'll keep experimenting. Goat had a little boy. He is the cutest little thing you have ever seen. Jakjak named him Zelda. It looks like our other goat may not have been pregnant after all, so that is kind of a bummer. We bought another baby goat yesterday because of that. Her name is oreo and it is fun to watch the 2 babies play. So we'll breed 3 this winter and hopefully have 3 milking goats next spring. Abbey, Maggie and I went into the mountains last weekend. We blew out a tire way back in. That was fun. Needless to say, we ran into snow drifts that were too high, so we did not make our destination. Maybe next time. Mikey and I canoed 15 miles of the bitterroot during high water. That was pretty intense. That is one dangerous river. We got spun around and dumped in under the Bells Crossing bridge. The water was ice cold and the look on Michaels face was priceless. Fortunately I am pretty calm under pressure and in crazy situations. I grabbed his vest and the canoe and we kicked it over to shore, warmed up a bit, then finished our trip. Last but not least, karma has apparently won again. Our crooked ex landlords have been stealing the current families rent and not paying the mortgage, so the bank has the house scheduled for foreclosure on July 1. I am hoping the current renters amber and mike can negotiate something with bank of america to stay in the house. They are good people and love it here too. Almost everyone we talk to in the bitterroot that knew the terrys are glad to see them gone. They just didn't fit in with the honest, hardworking, good morals of most people in the valley. It is so weird, though, how infatuated Nicole and Jason are with Monica and I. They still call and leave random voicemails on our cell phones from time to time that make no sense. I guess being dopers, they probably don't think clearly at times. Most of the messages sounded like they were drunk or doped up. I guess I would probably smoke dope too if I had to listen to nicoles squeaky ass voice everyday. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. Next month I learn how to build stuff out of stone from a top stone mason and I learn to make tools and shape steel in his blacksmithing class. Awesome.

Warm April In Bitterroot

What a beautiful April we have had in the bitterroot valley. It is 85 degrees today. We have been tilling, watering, and getting the garden ready. Everything is already green and growing in the yard and pasture. We have a ping pong table outside and usually play some rounds later in the evening before the sun goes down. Speaking of the sun going down, it doesn't until almost 9 pm now. I love the long days.

 Monica was gone for 2 weeks on another one of her trips. It was peaceful and calm around here. Although all 4 kids got some crazy flu going around. It knocked them out for a few days. Unbelievably, I did not get it, although I was coughed on for days.

 Our crazy farm is about to grow a lot next month. We have 2 goats due. Mia the yorkie is due. And 5 rabbits are due. Oh, and we added 10 ducks last week. Although the neighbors dog killed 1 already. I dug out a series of ponds going down the back pasture for them. They love to play in water. The horses get in the ponds and play as well. But we are getting 8-12 eggs a day from the ducks and chickens. I fenced in the other side of the pasture so the horses have been feasting on fresh grass for the last 2 weeks. Those horses are crazy. Pepper ran full speed into the fence yesterday and almost knocked the post out of the ground. I can't believe she didn't get hurt. The great danes tied last week, so we'll have some great dane puppies in a couple of months.

 I can't wait until my blacksmithing and stone mason class this summer. I have been wanting to learn those skills for a while.

DOAF

I am getting pretty excited to launch my new site. I think it could become huge as a social platform to communicate with local friends and neighbors. Should be done soon.

It has been an active spring. Michael and I have been shooting a lot. We shoot skeet in the back yard. Abbey and I went horseback riding with Bill last weekend. That was a blast. The weather has been amazing. This winter was very mild. We'll have to start getting the garden in shape.

For anyone that does not believe in karma. The sleezebag ex landlords of ours are losing their home to the bank July 1. What goes around, comes around. They screwed us over along with plenty of other honest people, so it is only fitting. The tenants called me and told me, "Eric, you were right. They are crooks. The Terrys have been taking our money and not paying the mortgage on the house. BOA is auctioning the house July 1. So of course they have to find a new place now, just like we had to. But at least they won't have to deal with Bonnie and Clyde any more.

Baby goats due in May. I am very excited about the goats. We tried some goat milk last week and it was delicious. We plan on making ice cream, butter, cheese and other dairy products with it, too. Self sufficiency takes one step at a time. We have plenty of rabbit meat, that is for sure.

Jak is doing good on his reading lessons. He never wants to do them, but is getting better. I have to do most lessons with him twice. I think I started him a bit too early, but.....