Thursday, May 01, 2008

Our Angel in a Cowboy Hat

Yes, posts are scarce these days. I haven't been this busy in a long time. We spent the month of April cleaning and moving into our new home out in the country. And I mean 'country!' Our little town has less than 200 people in it. We put in new carpet upstairs and my husband has been slowly putting in wood floors downstairs in the evenings after his day job. The first picture at the bottom of this post shows what our living room looks like right now. Nasty, nasty... We've been living in the kitchen and bedrooms and I have a feeling it will be this way a long time. It's going slow.

Meanwhile, I have been cleaning out the bugs and cobwebs from inside the house while the kids scrape the swallows and wasps nests off of the eaves and porches. A door or window must have been left open for a long time while it remained empty. I've never seen so many critters in a house. We are also trying to clean out and cut the tall grass around the house because we have a lot of cottonmouths and copperheads. But, oh how I love this place! It is picture perfect. I can't wait to share my nature finds with you over at Crammed with Heaven, our sadly neglected nature blog.

We didn't know anyone around us very well and was wondering how to find a tractor to plow our field so we could put in a big garden. It should have been in two weeks ago. Lo and behold, yesterday morning bright and early, our next-door neighbor drives up the lane with his tractor. He had heard about our plight through the grapevine and offered to help. This gentleman is 89 years old and still farming! I chatted with our angel in a cowboy hat while 13 yr old Raora ran to the house and whipped up something sweet. Sharing ice water and carrot cake under the shade of a big tree, the children and I listened to him recall tales about his adventures as a soldier during World War II and the history of our new little old town. A few hours later, our new friend went on home, but by nightfall, we had plowed and disced an acre and planted about 1/3 of it in beans, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and cantaloupe. Tomorrow, we hope to finish putting in the okra, cucumbers, squash, herbs and corn.

So please forgive me for not responding to your kind comments and emails. It may be a week or two before I can get to them.

Here's some pics...

Living room. Office- wood floors and wallpaper falling down

School room in progress. DH and the kids taking a walk. I don't trust that bull.

Pippi scraping nests off the eaves. Our pretty breakfast room

Still to unpack...




one step at a time...

20 comments:

  1. Lori1.5.08

    It looks beautiful, Lindafay! I'm so happy and excited for you. Please continue to post pictures of your progress...they're enchanting!

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  2. What a beautiful window in the breakfast room!!

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  3. Wow! That is SOOO wonderful. I am so happy for you guys. :)

    HUGS!

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  4. Cassandra1.5.08

    So pretty! I am so glad you are sharing your journey with us!

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  5. It nearly killed me to drive by last week without stopping in to see you. I know I must have been close! We loved meeting the Dixons and are so jealous that they get to meet you all! Maybe next time. :)

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  6. I think you would enjoy Ruth Stout's gardening books very much, delightful and valuable information. (go on Abebooks or Alibris because her wonderful books are out of print.) I am so happy for you guys.

    RUTH STOUT'S "NO-WORK GARDEN BOOK":

    Ruth Stout wrote a series of articles for Organic Gardening, the magazine, starting in the early 1950's and continuing through the 1960's. Her thesis was that the garden would pretty much take care of itself if the soil was fed an abundance of organic material. She advocated spreading a thick layer of organic material as a mulch over the entire surface of the garden. The material was simply allowed to remain on the surface and was not dug into the soil. She called it her "Year-round mulch method."
    She didn't use any pesticides or commercial fertilizer. She simply moved the mulch back to expose a bit of soil for planting and then moved the mulch around the young plant after it had sprouted. She said it was less work than digging in the soil but, in truth, she mostly wanted to get out of the way of Mother Nature whom she considered as the better gardener.

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  7. Dear Linda,
    It looks like a wonderful place to call home!
    The garden sounds lovely.
    I hope all continues to go well.
    Stacy

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  8. Donna in TX2.5.08

    Hello Lindafay,
    Has anyone told you about using mothballs as a snake repellant? We sometimes get rattlesnakes in our garage/shop and under our house and this always works.

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  9. I have no idea where you are living but you just made me desperately homesick for my homestate of Alabama. Man, I miss porches, old folks, great stories, and iced tea. SoCal and 1/2 a million people is where God has us though. sigh.

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  10. How fun for you! Setting up house is definitely work, but work with such great anticipation. It is nice to see your whole family getting in to it. I've been following your site for about 6 months now - I'm so glad to see your prayers answered so abundantly. He is good.
    I really appreciate your willingness to share your ups and downs and how-tos with me... I don't know if I will ever feel like I've got it down, but seeing what you do has helped me a lot with parenting and soon-to-be homeschooling. Thanks!

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  11. Anya3.5.08

    Hurray! StrongJoy and Raora have been telling me about your new house -- it's lovely to actually see pictures! :)

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  12. It all looks so exciting! Hard work, I'm sure..... but I've no doubts that you will make that house into a home very soon! I noticed that Spritti bee said that she wanted to drop in and visit you! Are you back in the USA???????? Did I miss that post? OOOOps!
    Love Fee xx

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  14. We'll try the mothballs, Donna. My husband killed another copperhead yesterday. I think we need a few outdoor cats too.

    I'm so sore and worn out, but having a ball ;)

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  15. Sounds like hard work, but that house looks like it will be all worth it in the end! What a blessing to have your neighbor help like that!

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  16. Just leaving a hello as I read your frong page and fall in love with your blog! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

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  17. Hugs and blessings to you as you go through the whole moving in process. From what I can see, it will be lovely!

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  18. What a nice big garden you will have. It sounds like a lot to plant in one day though!

    And what a lovely house you are fixing up.

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  19. It seems like a great adventure!
    Looking forward to seeing and reading about nature discoveries there!

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  20. My to-do list looks a lot like yours: removing wasp nests, reclaiming space from critters, unpacking! We moved out to the country a couple of weeks ago, and it's definitely a different life than what we previously knew! But so, so good! (And so perfect for a CM education! Nature walks in our own pastures!!)

    Blessings to you guys as you get settled in!

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