# 555 - John Deere and a Shock Collar

Our lives have been transformed...we now have a John Deere tractor!

For the past several months I have been negotiating and getting prices for the tractor we wanted...contacting John Deere dealerships within a three hour radius of our place. It has been a ridiculous process.

In April we were given a great price. We also have an Ag-exemption which means we do not pay the sale's tax. And we were paying cash for this baby, so there is another "cash" discount off the regular sale's price.

In May, they raised the price nearly $3,000. and other dealerships were almost $5,000. more than our preferred dealership's price. So, I wouldn't go with it. But, we REALLY needed a tractor as the rains beat upon our acreage, especially making our private road a super special off-roading experience!

One thing is certain, we definitely need equipment to match our lifestyle...and living on acreage means you need heavy equipment that can handle the amount of land and terrain. The yard equipment we used at our previous suburbia homes in Greater Houston are inadequate to handle the level of work needed on our acreage.

Sgt. Dave needs to be able to go outside and have the right equipment on hand, ready to cooperate with him, which will help preserve his energy, his back and his time.

But, first, we had to get the tractor home so it could be unloaded. The front-loader was used with straps to unload the box blade, which weighs around 600 pounds! Sgt. Dave did a GREAT job!

Later that day, we made time that day to discuss a few common-sense rules and expectations regarding heavy equipment usage, not just for his safety as the operator, but for the safety of other people, of our pets and animals, and for the preservation of other vehicles and structures.

Slow and easy it goes. No rushing, especially around ANY person, animal, structure or other vehicle. Heck, a potential disaster is one pot hole away. No drinking and operating any heavy equipment, common sense rules. Pro-active upkeep so that equipment stays in good working condition and will look great for as long as possible.

I have personally learned that a tractor is especially dangerous because of its attached parts, whether those parts are moving or not because there is a tendency to already be massively distracted or goal-oriented while operating a tractor instead of worrying about what is behind or beside you. Not to even mention the massive weight of the tractor and attachments, this can be a very dangerous tool.

Actually, the need for stringent ranch rules was confirmed after Sgt. Dave unloaded the tractor and a scary incident occurred. I was standing behind the trailer as he unloaded so I could make sure the wheels remained aligned with the trailer wheel-rails as he slowly backed it off the trailer. He did it slowly and carefully as I held one end of the strap tie to keep the 600 lb dangling box blade from potentially swinging back onto the tractor front end. We did great and Sgt. Dave got it unloaded.

However, after unloading the box blade, Sgt. Dave forgot about being safety conscious and he suddenly swung the tractor around to head out to the pasture and he must have completely misjudged that the brush hog was sticking so far out behind him and it nearly clipped my legs, but I literally jumped out of the way, just in time. I also screamed out, but he never heard me. I was videoing at the time and was NOT very happy at this sudden swing around as he forgot he had a very large attachment behind him that was going to be swung into MY SPACE. If I had a chance to press the button on a shock collar attached to Sgt. Dave at that time, that would have been perfect!

He never even knew what he did because he suddenly didn't pay attention to what was going on behind him as he focused on his desire to move forward with the new tractor. Still, I would have preferred for the slow and easy going motion to have continued until I was safely in HIS view at a good distance from the radius of the tractor's attachments.

Fortunately, for both of us, especially for me, I was not clipped by the sharp-edged piece of unforgiving machinery. As people operate heavy machinery, it cannot be assumed that others in the vicinity are mind-readers who will magically understand the motions you will be making with the equipment...same with the dogs, they aren't mind-readers either, so this was the first and hopefully the ONLY close-call for this piece of large equipment causing potential danger to others, especially others who are in the midst of helping said tractor driver who needed to be hit upside the head with a 2x4.

If a lot of people are around, there will be NO tractor usage because the near accident with me can definitely happen with others...so when we have a lot of company visiting, the tractor keys will be put away until they've left. The potential for disaster is too high. A tractor is fun, but it is not a toy. After he had a few hours on the tractor, Sgt. Dave began to understand what was behind him in a different way...he quickly learned to be a pro while he developed more respect for the machine he was operating and the dangers it could present, especially to people and animals around the tractor.

So far, we both still have all appendages and our heads are attached. Sgt. Dave is learning to also pay attention to what is behind him BEFORE he hits something, which is a great lesson in life. And the next time he needs my help, I will first attach a high powered shock collar to his neck and will be holding the button, ready to remind him that I am present and near the machinery, even when he cannot see me. I bet we won't have any more problems down the line. We're off to a GREAT start!

# 532 - Ebola, ISIS, Rioting Idiots...Prepping Reconsideration

Prepping was a way of life for many people for a long time.



My great-grandmother was the first "prepper" I had ever met. She
understood old-fashioned preservation techniques, she canned
regularly and raised chickens for her own food.

Actually, this is nothing new since many of us grew up with family members who "prepped" for the year with canned home-grown vegetables and fruit jams as well as those who hunted for sustenance.

These days, prepping has become a conscious effort to use the "preparation" for future needs that might result from something gone wrong in society.

We have all seen the ideas for prepping stem from concern about solar flares, satellite destruction, economic collapse and so on. However, I developed an URGE to begin some minor prepping after living through Hurricane Ike destroying our house and our neighborhood, encountering looters in our own neighborhood, and being in a mandatory evacuation zone that resulted in police barricades blockading the entrances/exits to our neighborhood for an extended period of time.

Several of us "hunkered down" for numerous reasons. We were a family that choose to stay behind. If we hadn't made that decision, we would have certainly lost EVERYTHING in our house to the continual rains that came through the roof that had been blown away between the hurricane and a twister. Then, had we not been there, the people looting houses in the neighborhoods would probably have hit our house as well.

Yes, we took a chance, but after living along the Gulf Coast region our entire lives, we were not accustomed to be runners...and the one year we did abide by Houston's idea to flee, we were stuck in devastating road conditions for nearly 13 hours that caused more loss of life than the storm itself caused. Never again.



In dire circumstances, independent judgment calls must be made. We learned, the hard way, that the government might be well-meaning, but they are not always right. With a high level of preparation and determination, a person or family can make their choices and live by them.

During the storm that Houston saw complete government failure during evacuation, we saw lawlessness in droves...we literally lived through life and death situations while being trapped on the road. Of course, me and my two daughters were EACH carrying guns, such as a Glock, we were ready to confront any criminal element that wanted to rob us, especially since we were towing a 30 foot RV that looked enticing to people who did NOT prepare for disaster along the road.

Houston's standstill roads during evacuations gone wrong.

People were traveling with pets and the Texas heat made untold numbers of people's vehicles overheat, so people were finding their pets dying. The only solution at this time, for many people, was to leave their pet's body along the roadside. My girls and I witnessed a man being hit on the head with a crowbar and with his skull cracked, with blood running down his face, he walked in circles in a parking lot, not knowing who he was or what had happened...we could not get one officer to come help because they would have faced insurmountable odds with stranded, furious, unprepared, desperate people. This is when you are thankful that you know a little about "prepping."

STAY OUT OF SIGHT.

During the time we are stranded, my daughters were not even allowed to hold a water bottle above the truck window line. The RV door remained locked and we made trips to the RV trailing the truck only during a dire emergency, with a gun in hand. One thing is for sure, we did not want to become a rolling "outhouse" for all those around us who felt entitled to use our RV for their personal use. Sorry, but that is not an option.

Truly, during moments like these, you MUST think of you and your family. I could have embraced a generous spirit and began to hand out water bottles, but I also understood that I had two teenage daughters who would need clean water over the next few days...which the water ran out fast. After a trip that normally would take two hours ended up taking over ten hours because of the panic and ill-planned city evacuation, I would be extremely thankful that my "prepping" instincts helped me protect my daughters. We had enough water left for us to not become dehydrated. Water...it definitely runs out faster than anyone can imagine.

As for today's preparations...I am thankful, our land has a Spring-Fed lake that could be a source of water for us, in an emergency.

Over the past year I have taken my prepping efforts up a notch. Of course, we have a flock of chickens that provide plenty of eggs that could be used to provide nutrition, but I have also begun to store extra amounts of rice, tuna fish, pasta, matches, seeds, packets of Ramon noodles for the carbs and sodium, popcorn, dry beans and so on. I even purchased buckets with lids from Walmart, and I really don't know how to protect the dry food other than to keep it in a cool, dry environment, and I lined the bucket with a black, thick trash bag to make sure no extra light would get inside the bucket.

And now that the news is picking up momentum with revealing the issues our society is now facing, such as domestic terrorism from foreigners and from people living in America who feel their discontent gives them a right to destroy communities...I feel it is important to be prepared to "hunker down" in a different way.

After being in a situation that was so dangerous, for many days with my girls, it became apparent that the local authorities would not be able to respond to most emergencies due to the calls being far higher in numbers than can be confronted. We need to be able to fend for ourselves.

If we were not able to go into town to get groceries because of local unrest, we need to be accountable for our own residential and personal protection, meaning we need to be well-armed, well-trained and with ample ammo at our disposal, as well as prepping with extra food on hand to last several weeks, at a minimum.

Then, we have illness and potential bio-hazards, such as Ebola that could become a serious concern for our communities. Just as Hurricane Ike prevented the trucking industry from coming into our communities for the replenishing of desperately needed fuel, groceries and such...the community basically just shut down.

Everything closed...there was no business to be had, especially since there was not electricity to run the fuel pumps and registers and lights. Everything shut down, and it took weeks to restock and to resupply. If you needed gas, too bad. If you needed water, too bad. If you needed batteries, too bad. If you were hungry...oh well...nothing within a two-hour radius is open to help you!

With Ebola, there will be additional problems for any community that is stricken with a major outbreak because no one will be eager to rush into the area to truck in goods. Also, if a major outbreak occurs in a community, we will see a lack of people wanting to go to work, so this will also contribute to areas being forced to shut down. Growing your own food would really be a great way to be self-sufficient.

And the police cannot protect a community from certain hazards; the government cannot protect a community from certain dangers; personal responsibility must be embraced. Police and government services are a great "back-up," but I know that we are often our own first line of defense for many different situations.

Regardless, I appreciate and have high regard for those who put themselves on the line for our safety and for our rescue from those who are self-serving on a criminal level.

Looters without a Cause - Ferguson

If we were to suddenly be in an area where such a virus began to spread, rapidly, we would need to be ready to either leave the area for an extended period of time, or since we live on acreage, we would need to be ready to "hunker down" on our property and to not leave for however long it takes to have confidence that our community is in the all-clear. For a virus such as Ebola, we can all see how this could present a problem due to the extended incubation period of 21-days for those who are exposed to the virus.

This also means that people with chronic medical conditions truly need to have extra medications on hand and to have a First-Aid kit that is extensive.

Since things are becoming iffy with our federal government lacking guts and since this administration lacks an aggressive proactive stance necessary to protect the citizens of our nation, we need to be prepared for the worst and expect the best.

I do feel better, overall, that we are living out of the city and deep in the forest. I suppose that we would have to watch for looters desperate for provisions, just as we had to do when our neighborhood was hit by the hurricane.

Ferguson-Fit-Throwers, any excuse to steal something and feel justified!

Since we do have surveillance on the land and we have set up certain protections, we are better off than most, but I think that we all should be alert and prepared rather than afraid and unprepared.

Having a plan is better than being taken off guard. Does anyone else have a plan to protect themselves and their family from a community issue that could require individual pro-activity?

# 459 - Celebrating Country Life!

The deck building process exposed a visitor, a Black Widow.

My husband tried to hold it still for a few shots. I found it oddly beautiful. After the photo session, he let it go in the woods.

Lions, tigers and bears. Well, not quite. However, we do have cougars, spiders and snakes. And, the bears are in these woods again because of a re-introduction plan that has now prompted official sightings in the area. Black bears.

For now, I am adding Black Widow spiders to my list of creatures and insects that city-life did not expose us to quite as much.

Also, the deck construction is finished. We are still going to add lattice to it, but this beauty is wonderful to step out onto instead of cinderblocks and indoor/outdoor carpeting that quickly gets clogged with DIRT GALORE.

Here is a photo, at night, of my mother-in-law standing on the deck.

I will be landscaping around the deck, so stay tuned. Of course, Beaker, the chicken missing the top beak, has already found her way to the top of the deck, but that will soon be off limits with the finishing touches that will be put onto the deck.

My huge picnic table fits on the deck and we certainly enjoy sitting outside while soaking in the peaceful view and country sounds.

Another great bit of news today that we received had been our electric bill. First of all, at this time of year, we would be getting an electric bill at the big city house that would be at least around $400.00 because of the days on end that were in the high 90's and right at 100 degrees.

The chickens are hanging out beneath the RV.

Here in the RV, we are in the shade for part of the day, but the hot days find the air-conditioning unit in the RV to run non-stop, so we were DREADING the moment the electric bill arrived.

You can imagine our high-five celebration as we opened the bill to discover the charge for a HOT month in Texas to be approximately $140.00! So, we are paying more for gas and commuting to Downtown Houston on a daily basis, but the overall break from "big house" bills is very nice.

It's so nice to have affordable electricity with this country electric co-op.

It's so nice to not be air-conditioning nearly 3,000 square feet of house.

It's so nice to be able to step out my front door and be in the midst of nature.

It's so nice to no longer share a front curb on a street without adequate parking space.

It's so nice to live on land that has trees instead of in a development that is just over ten years old and struggling to grow trees because the developer bull-dozed everything before construction began.

It's so nice to not hear police sirens throughout the night, every night.

And, it's so nice to see the beauty in nature, even if it includes a Black Widow every now and then.

# 453 - The Country - My Kitchen Change

Come along for the tour!

Over the next year, we will be working toward preparing the land to build a country cabin...a cabin or cottage will be our next home. In the meantime, we are living in our temporary home, an RV that's 33 feet long, with two slide-outs.

Going from a very large home to an RV has been quite a transition. I had wondered how I would feel about leaving my large kitchen in the house we just sold...that island kitchen was very spacious.

 

 

However, our RV is cozy. In fact, I love my RV kitchen, which is located on the front end of the RV.

There's room to move around, ample drawer and deep cabinetry. There's also space available over the upper cabinets and that's where we keep the foil, lunch-kits, lap trays, and such.

 The makers of this RV used ingenuity when they made the kitchen to extend over the trailer/tongue area to give loads of cabinetry and counter-space that is not usually found in a 33-foot RV.

This part of the countertop actually has an overhang that allows for two bar stools to be pushed underneath. I use the area underneath for a three-tier shoe holder. No shoes to be worn inside! Well, except by guests.

My little kitchen is enjoyable. Everything is carefully designed to be within an arm's reach. And that skillet I am using below is a massive sized skillet, I believe 17 inches across, but it is one of my favorites.

Isn't this entire adventure ridiculously funny? Can you believe we made a massive leap from city living in the Greater Houston area that has over 2,400 people per square mile to the country in an area that has, on average, 43 people per square mile?

We are nuts! We're making huge sacrifices, but we know it will be worth it. In fact, tonight I stood outside listening to the frogs, crickets and spied some lightening bugs at the edge of the forest, and I CAN FEEL the many reasons we're going through all this hardship.

If you love nature and you love having some space around you, then you understand. If you like the sound of birds chirping when you walk outside instead of the sound of traffic, then you understand. If you like to look out your window and see greenery as your landscape instead of man-made structures, vehicles and concrete, then you understand. If you'd like to see more of our society make a return to traditional practices, such as growing and raising table food, then you understand what we are trying to do out here in the country.

The way I look at it, at least we are providing ONE home on our side of the family that has beautiful acreage with a spring-fed creek and lake to play in and we have woods to explore...there's room to roam and space to enjoy. And we can actually see the stars at night.

Our land continues to go back, as far as those trees in
the distance and beyond. Howdy stands there, he
wants to go back there, but it's not always safe.
That's rattlesnake and Cottonmouth zone.

Such beauty is still available. Treasure it...I am sure you understand what we are trying to do out here in the country and you know the reason I am so darn happy with my little kitchen.

# 452 - Country Life - The Peaceful Pace

FIRST OF ALL...I do NOT have links embedded. Do not click on any links. This seems to be a BlogSpot issue, so don't click on any links in this post.

*****

Starting life on rural acreage in the country is a constant challenge, but it can be rather interesting. For example, the other day, this "what-the-heck" was driving down the road next to us.

I sure do love Texas.

 

As for moving to the country, the most immediate and important hurdles have been with our utilities. Throughout this year, we will be building a house, but for now, we must go through all the boring motions necessary to get us started with the basics.

For electricity, we started out on generator, but we had a pole installed with a meter and breaker box, then a connection was finally made by the local electrical co-op to our private pole.

For water, we have multiple water hoses connected across acres of land, from one corner of our acreage we have water from the local co-op and it is stranded by water-hoses to the RV. We've had a couple of "blow-outs" of a few water hoses, mostly the ones brought from the house we just moved from. We've definitely learned how important it is to respect high quality water hoses for such projects.

Sgt. Dave also put on a quadruple splitter to allow us to attach multiple water hoses at a junction point. The main LONG hose connection leads to back of RV, then the splitter is used so that we have another hose ready to fill the chicken's or dog's water bowls, to water plants and such, then we have another hose that is attached to the washing machine that is now located in the newly constructed shed.

Water hoses connected and running through forest to RV.

Running pipe to the RV from the main water line is not exactly an option at this point because of the terrain. We are considering the option of finishing the well that was already started on the residential side of our property. Since we are going to be looking into a well, we need all the advice we can get, it is WELCOMED. Give us our good and bad experiences, the do's and the do-not's.

As for septic, we began with a hole in the ground, but now Sgt. Dave has run PVC piping to our septic. I can tell you that going from city plumbing to a hole in the ground was an adventure in itself. To cut down on the aroma, we utilized jugs of bleach. After a septic dump, Sgt. Dave would pour some bleach into the hole and it definitely helped. However, the first time of pouring bleach into the poo-hole resulted in this major chemical bubbling/gas cloud reaction that brought about a lot of laughs as we were shocked. This moment gave us a lesson that bleach and poo porridge can be scientific.

And today we were to have an installation appointment for a phone (land-line) to be installed and to give us DSL Internet! For now, I have often hijacked Lowe's service, which is free to guests and since Lowe's is our second home, I often use it when buying supplies.

At the RV, I have been using my IPhone's "Personal Hotspot" wireless connection, which is quite expensive and limited in data usage. As soon as I exceed my data usage limits, I am charged $10 for every gig of overage. The Personal Hotspot only comes with 5 GB of usage and that goes very fast.

So, I THOUGHT I'd have a home phone and DSL today, but the crew arrived this morning, for the SECOND time, and they realized the line they need to run is more complicated than anticipated. They began burying a lot of line today.

And we're going to have to make a map of some sort to indicate all of the new utility lines we're dealing with lately.

Soon, I'll be able to get back to blogging more regularly.

Oh yes, we burn our trash. Which, I've been told will be a HUGE pain in the rear when the heat sets in and there are burn bans enforced.

We have been through a lot already since we've been out here, but it does feel great to be able to stretch our physical bodies and our minds on this acreage. There is definitely something that comes from nature that is healing to our spirits.

Living in an RV isn't easy, but it isn't so bad, either. It's cozy. I keep reminding myself that not having to clean the near 3,000 square feet of house is really nice! However, I am already yearning for cooler weather.

And a friend and I were communicating today; she lives out here as well. Her family left the same area we just moved from --- in Greater Houston --- and she said they would never go back. She said they love the "slower" pace of the country.

I have decided that instead of calling the country a place that goes at a "slower" pace that I will give my description, which is that it goes by a "peaceful pace."

Of all the utility connections that we've arranged, there has not been one line to stand in to do business. In the Houston area, it is chaos. People don't hardly look up from their keyboard; you walk in and take a number. Here, in the country, you walk in and there are five workers sitting at their desk and you are the only one needing help.

Since we are living here full-time, we finally have the opportunity to make it our mission to try as many of the local restaurants as possible. Each time we get a chance to dine out, we purposefully search for a place we've not yet tried. We will give each restaurant two chances.

We've already ruled out the "nicest" restaurant in town because the main course items are not that tasty, but the prices rival those of Houston's nicer dining establishments with most platters starting at around $17.00 per plate. So, we were disappointed, twice. It's sad when the food is so "off" that you don't even want to take home ample left-overs.

So, we were pleased to find a little Italian hole in the wall.

This week, we tried Joe's Italian Grill, and I was not sure would be good, but it was pretty decent for a small-town in Texas. I was surprised.

By the way, Italian food is my favorite food to cook, so this one is a toughie for restaurants to compete with because home-made Italian can't be beat. Joe's Italian Grill came close...the prices make it worth enjoying.

To start, the salad was tasty and the bread was great.

We then shared a platter that had fettuccine alfredo, lasagna and chicken parmisiana, which was my favorite and will be ordered again.

They are open seven days per week, until 9pm each night and on Saturday until 10pm. A bonus is their daily lunch special is $6.95. Not bad...not bad at all.

Next week, we'll try another new restaurant. There aren't many to try, so we're taking our time.

As for making headway on the acreage, it feels great to see our storage shed in place. Since it will partially serve as the laundry room, I had to make an effort to reduce the amount of dirt being tracked inside. Our acreage has great soil, but the top-coating is mostly sand and this can be maddening. You know about sand.

Years ago, we laid out several pallets of St. Augustine grass, which is starting to spread out further and further now that we are living here and keeping the lawn mowed to reduce blackberry vines. It can't spread fast enough for me.



We know that a little deck in front of the RV would be helpful; it would give us stomping ground to better shake off the dirt and to reduce the amount of sand/dirt that is tracked in the RV by us and the dogs. Using what I have available, I laid some old bricks at the RV and storage building entrance.

These are very old bricks from my mom's house
that were dug up and left in a pile for years.
My grandfather was a plumber; I think these are
sewer bricks.

Every effort is part of the LONG, tedious process of moving to the country.

My father-in-law taking a well-deserved break.

No matter where you live, we all know that this world can give us combined yukiness along with beauty, but I do love living in the country...it re-charges my soul.