Did you hear that loud clang?

That was the sound of the door slamming on my old life. I finished the last of the Aggregation of Demand Report today for the broadband project I was working on for the last two years.
The report that I wrote on our project is here:
http://centralsierraconnect.org/finalreport
We should have all the last pieces uploaded today and sent to the funders. I am getting ready to send off my invoice shortly. I am officially unemployed! I am kind of scared as I have not been unemployed for many many years. I have worked steadily since I was 14 and I am 42 now!
I am anxious to get the RV back so we can start packing it full of the junk we are taking. Plus I am anxious to start looking for land! I guess I am just anxious all the way around!
I think I will go drown my anxieties in another cuppa coffee

Two day turnaround

Sigh. I am worn to a frazzle. I just drove 1200 miles in 2 days to go to a job interview in the area we are relocating to be told I was waaay overqualified for the job. Disappointing. I only need the job for a while, to get us up there and going. We will own our land outright and have enough to build a very simple home. We just need money for the unexpected stuff that happens along the way.,
The drive was gorgeous. I went up I-5 at 75 miles per hour while the rest of California passed me at 90. Thursday’s drive was better than Friday. All the Friday crazies were out and driving like they were already drunk. I am very very thankful that I arrived home in one piece. On the way back, I stopped at just about every rest stop along the highway as I just was not into driving. I met a lot of people standing around. There were a lot of travelers, and many of them were seniors, which I thought was odd. I smile a lot at people and it makes folks want to talk to me. It also helps being in a long jumper and headcovering. My best guess is my appearance is like advertising my position on a lot of issues through my clothing, lol.
I stayed at a campground next to the ocean and it was beautiful but cold. I met a whole load of people at the campground as well as the caretaker put me in the RV section right next to the office and bathrooms. I was camping in a tent since the RV is not ready and he was worried that I was a woman alone and that with the wind my tent would roll over. He introduced me to the RV people and we sat out and talked for a long time. They also helped me get my tent up I am a gregarious person by nature and interested in everything, so people will open up and talk to me pretty easily. A lot of the folks were professional people who were recently jobless and downsizing their lives to RVS. Most were looking for employment. Scary. Several people were leaving around the first of the month to continue their search for work. Some were going further north, others to the east and out of state.

As I drove up the coast I could not help but exclaim out loud how spectacular the scenery is. The Pacific Ocean is so dramatic, with cliffs and rocks and crashing waves. It does not hurt that I was also driving through giant ancient redwoods forest land at the same time:)

I honestly do not know if we will make it up there before the wheels come off the economy. There are some troublesome things going on with the banking system and credit and I find myself increasingly concerned each day. We are blessed by the L-rd with a strong work ethic, the willingness to farm and work hard and to work towards self sufficiency, and have a generous supply of food and other items that will allow us time to become self sufficient should things get much worse soon, but I fear for all the folks I know that have been hiding their heads in the sand regarding the way the world is headed. We can make a go of it here at the old homestead and the place does have some advantages, but there are also major problems with it that I just don’t WANT to overcome. Well, I am not supposed to be online but I grabbed some quick blog time as DJ needed something looked up so I need to go The Sabbath is supposed to be about rest!

RV update

We bought an 91 Cruise Air II by Georgie Boy. What a name! As we were driving it home (I was in our Jeep, DJ was driving the Wallowing Sow..erm..RV) we were talking to each other via GMRS radios , kinda like walkie-talkies. I was Viper 1, and he was Galactica Actual. True geeks we are. I miss that show. It was only one of three I watch on TV: Battlestar Galactica, No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain and 18 Kids and Counting. Odd mix, yes? My mind is so all over the place I just can’t stay entertained by TV and I find the commercials SO OFFENSIVE that it becomes impossible to watch. Mostly I DVR the program then speed through the commercials. I am sure anyone listening to our convo on their scanners were really confused.
“Galactica Actual, this is Viper 1.”
“Go ahead Viper 1″
“Galactica, you are wandering all over the road like a Wallowing Sow. I am concerned that the CHP will pull you over for drunk driving.”
“Viper 1, you should try it from this side. No comments from the peanut gallery, especially until you’ve tried DRIVING this piece of crap.”
“10-4 Galactica. Viper 1 out.”

See what I mean?

Ok, back to the point of this. So, the guy we bought it from. He is a certified Tin-Foil-Hat wearing dude. We are talking full court conspiracy, with FDR, the gold standard, the UN, Admiralty Law, invalid contracts, fiat money, you name it. He was shocked at all get out that we could follow his conversation. We were still edging backwards as he foamed, don’t get me wrong, but we could understand him. I love a good conspiracy theory, and am up on many of them but that does not mean I BUY any of them. I just enjoy reading about them. While we were there he got a call from his girlfriend. Apparently the IRS would like to talk to him. I wonder why
So, I talked to him for a while, and he really warmed up to us but we could not come to a price. He wanted $9000, we did not want to pay that. We ended up parting ways and did not expect to hear back from him. He called a few days later, offering a lower price. DJ, being the savvy dude that he is, told him “Sorry, we only have $4000. That’s all we can offer.” The guy was incensed, and told DJ he could not do a penny less than $7000. Daniel agreed to disagree, they parted ways amiably, and we washed our hands again.
A few more days go by, and Guy calls again. $5000 is a fine offer, he said. DJ patiently explained to him we have $4000 and regrettably could not offer more. The agreed to disagree AGAIN and I though “That is IT.” The next day, Guy calls back. “$4000, and you have to come get it TODAY.” DJ told him “I can’t come until Monday”. This was Saturday The Guy finally agreed and we picked it up on Columbus Day, the day before the storm that Attempted To Destroy California. (Hey, wait until I leave!) We lost two trees in that storm, and made the local paper for the awesomeness of one of the trees falling, destroying power poles and phone lines and blocking roads.
We paid $4000 that day, and drove it to a tire place in Placerville near Guy’s house to get new tires on it. 6 of them for $1000. KaChing! Just doing our part to stimulate the economy. I registered it yesterday: $475. Darned California and exorbitant fees. That even shocked me, as jaded as I am
The brakes were squishy so DJ took it to the local shop to have them looked at. Master Cylinder out, special part needs to be ordered, $585 for part/installation. Bam. Can you feel my pain?
It has to be smogged on Monday to pass California emissions compliance. You and I both know that 1) it will not pass, and 2) it is gonna be over $500. Ouch. We’ll see how my predictions go.
I insured it yesterday: one bright note. $35 for 6 months, with the minimal coverage and a promise to never hardly EVAH drive it. At least we both have good driving records. Phew.
The ignition needs replacing, but that will be cheap. The hydraulics are not working but it appears to be a problem with the fuse casing, and will hopefully be a cheap fix. The transmission gasket has a small leak, and DJ is going to fix that as well. The inside is in great shape, and everything works. Phew! I think that is everything so far!
I will post pics when I get it back from the shop on Friday. We are taking it out for an overnighter in a full facility campground nearly to learn how to use all the hookups and equipment

Feeling better, and a prayer request

I am better this morning, not so achy and swollen. I think that sticking to simple bone broth soup and mineral water is helping my poor kidney by not stressing it too much. Some days are good days, some not so good. At least I did not wake up moon-faced swollen this morning!

My prayer request is for another blogger and her family. A few days ago this blogger’s child was hit by a SUV and thrown 25 feet. She is in the hospital and beginning to recover but iis still in the PICU. I have enjoyed reading this lady’s blog, along with her friend Rootie’s blog for quite sometime. It is my understanding from a previous post that this blogger does not necessarily like incoming links so I won’t link to her blog. I will link to Rootie’s blog. Rootie is a prolific and entertaining blogger that talks a lot about her life and family in Georgia. Please pray for her friend’s recovery.

Feeling unwell

I don’t think I have ever fully recovered from the trauma of multiple surgeries and infections over the past two years. Although my last bout was in January, I still feel weak and tired all the time! I struggled all summer with going outside to garden and play in the yard but did not do nearly as much as I would like, and still can’t even contemplate riding my bike anywhere. It does not help being so overweight! I found this AM that one of my favorite dresses is a wee bit tight but a nice apron is covering the evidence
I had a lot of yard help from the boys this year, which is the only reason I had a harvest at all. Weston Price stated that all disease arises from diet, and I believe that to be true. But I also believe a lack of movement is a part of it, and I only move when forced right now I have been watching Parkour and Mov Nat videos, wishing I could bounce from rock to rock and run and leap like that. So how to get there from here? One step at a time, i guess. The Big Dog will feature prominently in this; he needs more exercise and would be thrilled if I was hopping around for him to play with
We have ANOTHER delay in moving that is pushing us back by a week or so. I was promised payout on a contract but the company did not come through. Still no explanation from them either. So, we wait. And wait. And wait. Something will happen eventually!

Power is in and out

BIG BIG storm today; we already had a tree fall on my daughter’s cabin but fortunately there was no one hurt and no damage.
We got the RV yesterday. I will take pics and post them a little later, G-d and the power willing!

Farm updates

Even though my departure date is arriving soon, we are still working on putting the yard to “bed”. DJ and I are working on cleaning up beds, grabbing the last of the harvestable items, and just cleaning up in general. Our son will be taking over the whole shebang next year, and will be growing lots of nice veg here.
We are (L-rd willing) picking up an RV tomorrow. It is used but in great shape. Ari and I will be living in the RV by the ocean while we wait for DJ to finish up his job and cash out his retirement. We found land, and will be putting a bid in on it after Ari and I get up there with escrow to close when DJ’s retirement comes in. We will be buying it cash outright, and building homes for us (DJ and I, Ari, and The Boy). Some of our extended family “sons” (The Boy’s childhood friends) will be coming up next summer to help build for everyone. I hope they will want to stay, the whole group. They all need to get away from where we live, the meth manufacturing capital of Nor Cal. Thanks, local unnamed group. Even though there is a not a lot of crime here, or much violence, there are a lot of lost soul s. The place we are moving to has a LOT less people: less than 6000 in the county vs 60,000 in county. It is geographically isolated and has incredible soil and of course the OCEAN nearby

So here is a run down of everything harvested/canned or otherwise dealt with the last 6 weeks:

20 qts of tomatoes. Blasted blight. We had twice as many plants and got half the yield after the tomatoes succumbed to the blight. I had high hopes but as Mr. Bunker says: the process is our life, the results belong to the L-rd. Lessons learned indeed.

20 lbs of zucchinis. We mostly ate those as they came off the plant.
Too much corn to count. 40-50 lbs dried, maybe when it comes off the ears?
7 pumpkin pie pumpkins. We would have had more but the chickens ate them on the vine.

Pounds and pounds of peppers. I need to weigh the bags. I dried them in the sun. 20? 15? somewhere in there. A LOT. Best pepper year ever.

50 lbs of potatoes.
10 lbs onions
3 cabbages. The rest bolted in the extreme heat.
A few turnips and kale.
20 qts of green beans. There are more on the bushes but I lost interest in them this year.
20 butternut squashes.
200 eggs over 6 weeks. We ate them all.
5 chicks!

These peeps were unexpected and hatched this last week. One of the black sex-links freaked out over a secret nest and got broody. Amazing for modern chickens! We used to get chicks all the time from our banties. I am very pleased with this, and VERY thankful!

So, this was not our most impressive year but I still feel good about the process. Practice makes life!
I will try to keep updating every day while we get ready to leave. I want to record the whole process

Still moving towards moving!

We have had a lot of movement (so to speak) towards our move to the coast. It looks like our departure date will be Oct 23, give or take a day or two. I will do a big update in a day or so going over all the details.
G-d is good!

We had fun making a Sukkot out of a big camping tent in our side yard. We did not do a lot of fancy decorating but enjoyed it none-the-less. This was our first time taking a serious look at the Fall Biblical feasts and enjoyed our studies thoroughly. I would not say we truly “celebrated” them, not being Jewish but we did learn a lot about the history, the context, and our Messiah while the holy days were going on (and are STILL going on). It has gotten pretty chilly for California here so it is too cold to sleep outside but we are enjoying our meals out there

Feast of Trumpets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Trumpets_%28Christian_holiday%29

We like to note the passing of Biblical feasts/holidays around here and next up to bat is the Feast of Trumpets. We won’t do much that day, but it does add an extra “oomph” to the Sabbath. I will make some extra special things to feast on for that day, and we will go shootin’ at the range then come home and listen to MB sermons and various other goodies.
I had been slacking in scripture reading as the world sucks me in (willingly, shame on me) and I get busy. Fortunately, the Old Man has been working on Bible study with me every night at 8 pm. We listen to an audio version of KJV while reading on our Bibles and talk afterwards about what we read, looking up terms online and such. We are hoping to go through Isaiah both with the audio Bible as well as the “blow-by-blow” from MB. (Michael Bunker
The Old Man will probably take the Day of Atonement off from work, and for the Feast of Tabernacles we plan on sleeping outdoors in our tent in our pretty side yard that is filled with grass and flowers and a giant sequoia tree. I think it will be a glorious night!

I posted a bunch of pics on my Twitpic account!

http://twitpic.com/photos/mshelton

The guys ran me out of the kitchen while I was attempting to can green beans We are having a beautiful Labor Day weekend. My husband loves celebrating the day meant to honor his kind, lol We will be having ribs, sausages, beans, corn on the cob, potato salad, rolls, veg from the garden, and blackberry pie! Good stuff, good day!