Friday Update...snow? no...

Well, most of the "weather stuff" seems to be going south...Donna...Did you get anything?  It didn't even do enough here to freeze over the top layer of my mud last night.  I was at least hoping for that much.  Oh well, they are saying snow possibilities for Saturday now, so maybe...

Dewey headed back to bed this morning.  His blood pressure hit the ceiling last night, and was still a bit on the high side this morning.  He hadn't taken a bp pill in about a week and his pressure was really good, for him anyway.  He took a pill last night, and then one this morning when it was still up there in the wrong regions,
Ok...I'm still working on the menu outlook for the shopping plan.  I was reading over at Homemaking Homestead about these yummy sounding black bean sloppy joes...I have always used Crystal's recipes with delicious success, so I expect these will be just as good.  Crystal has a great list of recipes and most are already sized right for us...perfect :o)

Country Heart and Home posted her February menu...some good sounding plans there as well...Chicken Alfredo and Broccoli really jumped out at me.  Yum.

I have a lot of work to do to get a good menu set up.  And I really need a different dehydrator.  This one is just beyond practical use.  The peppers didn't do well, so I moved them off to pans in a low oven.  Well, a delivery of wood came and we were relocated from inside tasks last night to outside tasks...namely splitting and stacking wood to the woodpile.  I didn't make it back in for nearly 2 hours, and of course, no one else gave the smell of peppers a second thought.  Don't ask.  I will go back to freezing them and skip drying for now until I get a better unit. :o(

It's too muddy sloppy to move the trailer of hay anywhere other than the front drive.  Nice.  So, we started pulling the first bale apart today and forking it -- by hand and wheelbarrow no less -- back to the barn.  The goats were excited, and amused I'm sure, at the spectacle.  They all stood at the fence watching us and talking up a storm.  Wish I spoke goatese...I'm sure it was quite the conversation!

Little House and The Big Garden asked today about home, specifically are you living in your 'for-ever' home?  There are a lot of things I like about where we are...it is very rural, very off-the-track of life around us, it is secluded.  There are ample areas for us to work on here, even other building sites.  There is a seasonal pond -- getting a lot of help this year with all the rains -- and a creek that always has some water, and sometimes has a good deal of it.  We are surrounded by a lot of acres of nothing...on 3 sides easy.  There are literally a couple thousand acres south and west of us, not even riddled with hunting trails.

There are a lot of things I don't like.  The clay gumbo muck I have for soil.  Everywhere.  The abundance of trees is good, but most of them are sweet gum...what the heck do I do with that?  They are great posts, but only for a season.  I haven't tried burning any yet -- maybe that's a better use?  It is a hardwood, right?
Then there is the pond.  It's not anything usable at this point and needs much work.  Dug out, re-formed, etc.  It isn't much more than a really large mud hole...and I have no shortage of those around here. 
I'm in a trailer.  That is not my idea of 'for-ever' at all.  Not in a storm-ridden region like this.  Tornadoes and trailers just aren't compatible.  I want a house.  Something substantial and sturdy.

My dream home...put me in the mountains, in a nice clearing, not too far from a lake down the mountain, and year-round snow caps to the north.  I want my drive to be such that most folks will assume they've gotten lost and find a way to turn around long before getting there.  The homestead area will have a house (or cabin) with one large main area downstairs with kitchen, living and such areas all as open as possible.  Upstairs will be bedrooms and a 'basement' below for storage and storms.  Outside in a sort of L-shape, the main barn with small lots out both sides leading to pasture areas, then a chicken house.  I like the L-shape idea for wind protection and such.  Behind there, the garden, through a nice windbreak into another cleared area.  I'd like a well not far from the back door, and nice long covered porches from and back.  Something deep and usable, even for sleeping outside in the summer.

Will I get it someday?  Hmmm...maybe.  Maybe not.  I can create some of it wherever I am, but I'm sort of stumped on how to get that snow capped peak down here in Mississippi?  Guess I need someone to come paint me a nice Trompe L'oeil mural...