roughinitinGodscountry

Time To Live Again

2009-01-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

Gee almost a year since I last posted.........I wasn't sure just what I thought of this blogging, but now after reading my past blogs, I think it is a real nice way to look back on the past. So I have decided to add some more things to bring my blog up to date....

Its been a rough year for me, my dear husband passed away in March of 2008, fortunately he didn't suffer much and in the end he went quickly. I really was expecting he would have made it to summer or at least spring, as those were the seasons he enjoyed most. He loved working on the flowerbeds and the lawn, and adding more trees every year. I really miss him, it is so lonely out here by myself.

In June I hired someone to help with the remodeling that I couldn't finish alone. I did the drywall mudding and painted and built some cabinets in the back entrance, I was real happy with the results on that project. I will post some photos later. I still have to finish the bathroom and laundry room, I have all the wallpaper but just didn't find the energy to do it yet.
After that there is only the upstairs to finish. I bought the materials and will work on that next spring and summer. I really am looking forward to having the entire project finished.

Some of the grandkids helped plant a few more trees in summer, and in October we had our annual pumpkin run. I didn't grow the pumpkins again this year, I just wasn't feeling up to it, maybe I can get more into things next year.

NOVEMBER....HUNTING...Wow I actually didn't get a deer this year, hit one but didn't bring it down, my son-in-law finished it off the following day, (wouldn't want to have one running around wounded and left to die somewhere). I had a couple of other shots but they were quite far down in the ravine and I knew none of us would be able to drag one up that hill so I just watched them wander on. My grandson spent the entire week up hunting and I really enjoyed having him stay so long, Unfortunately I don't see too much of him or his sisters, I guess his mom (my daughter) and his step dad aren't into family that much which is really sad.

This year we ended up with more snow in December than last year, in fact we set new snowfall records since 1887. I had quite the time keeping shoveled out and plowed out, I actually got the dual wheel one ton truck stuck one evening, they had plowed in the morning but it was so windy that day, that by early evening everything was drifted full up to the windshield of the plow truck. I sat in the driveway, half way up to the road and waited for the plow to come back again and get me out. That was quite the evening, fortunately the winds died down and I was able to get back in without a problem later that night.

Enough is enough!!!!! Can't handle being so far back here alone in this weather, so I closed up the house the day before Christmas and have been staying with one of my daughters and family, we have had a very nice Christmas and New Year. I had planned to head to Arizona for the winter, I was supposed to meet friends in Quartzsite AZ but found out the day before Christmas that my friend has cancer, that really hit me hard expecially after losing my husband to cancer only nine months ago. I of course put my plans on hold and spend most of the holidays being quite depressed.

Well that pretty much brings things up to date, I'm still in Wisconsin at my daughters and working on refinding my confidence to head south on my own, my trailer is ready to go and it is here at my daughters. We have had one snow storm after another and then rain in between so now everything is ice with more snow on top of that. I am feeling better these days and am starting to watch the weather and plan to head out of here in the next week sometime. Still not sure just where I will go but will start out heading straight south to get to warmer weather asap.

Winter In God's Country

2008-02-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

I just had to go outside and take a look around the property. The snow is really getting deep. Hopefully spring will be on its way soon. Until then I guess we can just enjoy the views.

Enough is Enough Already

2008-02-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yes I like the snow, but I think we have more than we need.......also this is at the top of the hills and therefore it will all be at the bottom (where the house is) when it melts. Maybe I should start digging a deeper hole someplace next to the house so the water doesn't end up in the house.

2008-02-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

2008-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

WOW...as usual time is flying by again. The holidays are long past already, I did manage to do quite a bit of baking and decorating, the decorations are all packed away now and so is most of the baking, (mostly in my tummy) my hubby didn't eat much, and I put some in the freezer. I did some cookie exchanging but forgot to take some with me on Christmas day for the family get together so I had more than I needed.

It's past mid January now and My hubby had his two month checkup, CT and Bone Scan, we will get the results from his doctor tomorrow, he isn't feeling well most of the time so he has been very inactive. I did start us on some puzzles, he worked on it some but I got so hooked I was staying up till past 12:00 and 1:00AM, finished the first one last night. I tried to get Hubby to start a new one this morning but he wasn't interested, mostly he dozes on and off all the time. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for him, he seems to have given up on everything. Hopefully the Dr can suggest something to help him out.

Meanwhile I have been trying to work on finishing the house, I did some drywall patching and painting and put up shelves inside the laundry room closet, now we just have to build the wall around the shelves and washer & dryer, and put the bi-fold doors on and that project will be finished.

It has been a winter wonderland out here for the past week. I will try to post some pictures later. I finally saw a few deer again, since hunting they seemed quite scarce around here. I just love watching nature in my beautiful "God's Country".

December already, Where did the time go?

2007-11-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, here it is the eve of December first and I am finally getting back to posting on my blog. We are still working on our home, not too awful much to go yet, (we will still be sorta roughin it , as this is not your conventional built home, but we love it here). We had hoped to have some help with a few things while some of the family was here during deer hunting, but hunting was so good this year that we spent most of the time in the woods. Like they say "all work and no play makes a dull boy" something like that anyhow.

Thanksgiving, well now thats quite the story in itself. My one daughter, (I have three) and her family were planning to come here for dinner and stay thru the weekend, ( I was really looking forward to that). On Wednesday as they were getting ready to leave home, my grandson took the family vehicle to have it gassed up for the trip, well unfortunately he was involved in an accident, ( he wasn't hurt too bad, thanks to the airbags) anyhow the van was totaled, so they had no transportation to get here. With all that I really didn't feel like making a big dinner anyhow so we just cancelled. MDH and I then needed to finish processing the 3 deer the hunting party had gotten opening weekend, yes one was mine, my grandson and step grandson got the other two. The processing was quite a job, but now we have meat for three families in the freezer.

There is another hunting season in about a week, I'm hoping some of the family will be able to come back for that hunt as well, hopefully it won't be too cold or I may not go out myself. I'm kind of a warm weather person, I love the snow, for a little while, but boy oh boy give me that sunshine and sandy beaches any day.

This year I'm planning on doing some decorating for the holidays, and some baking, and all the traditional things, lets see how well that pans out. Last year I spent almost four months in the hospital, although I did get out for the day on Christmas, so I didn't get a chance to do any prep for the holidays at all, so I think I should do it up big this year, I have plenty of things to decorate with.

views from my front porch

2007-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Karen

2007-06-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

I guess its about time I jump in here...My daughters keep telling me to post something, so here goes.

My husband and I live in the middle of a 21 acre piece of Gods beautiful country, (very private and quiet). It has been quite the struggle for the past three years here though. We moved out here after our home burned down, we were living in a mobile home park then. When we first moved out here we lived in a travel trailer and had no water or sewer, there was a two story building that was not set up as a home however.

We had planned to spend our winters in the south as my husband was laid off from his job in the winter months, we went to Texas and Arizona the winter of 2004 and came back in spring, MDH went back to work in April, he became ill in June and went to the Dr. we found out that he had lung cancer. His Dr told him to go on disability for the time he had left, so he did. Well that sorta took care of being able to afford to put a well and septic in our land. So we decided it was still less expensive to live here rather than anywhere else so we just started hauling water in as we needed it, and we collected rain water for whatever we could use it for, mostly for watering the flowerbeds and the vegetable garden.

We used a generator for electricity and after awhile we put a solar panel on the travel trailer. We gradually worked on making the building into a home, when MDH was feeling well enough and we had some spare bucks. We then started to put solar into the building so we were able to get a regular refrig, that little 6 cubic foot one, was just roughing it. Ah how nice to have a regular refridgerator again.

When the fall of 2005 arrived, it was time to move indoors as we live in Wisconsin and one can't very well survive Wi winters in a travel trailer. I rigged up a system so we could have running cold water at the kitchen sink, I had a spare 12 volt pump so I attached a hose to the faucet and the other end went into the 7 gallon jug we used to haul water in. I just had to hit a switch and open the faucet and walla, running water, (at least until the jug was about empty). I did the same thing for a shower although this time we had to heat the water, on the wood stove and then put it back into the jug, one person would turn on the switch when the other needed water to soap up and then rinse ( little bit concerned about water and electric together, even though it was only 12 volts.)

Here we are now June of 2007, it was alot of fun roughing it the past three years, (trying at times) but finally after all that time we now have water and sewer, (for the past 3 or 4 weeks) we also have a water heater and a flush toilet, you can't imagine how appreciative I am for these things.