Where Have I Been?

Only the trees, birds and bees know for sure. :))

Remember my To Do At The Luck Cabin (even though i can not live here year round for the rest of my life) but I am going to keep doing stuff anyway LIST?
Me either. I'll have to go look at it.
But, I think i have been getting some of it done....
Let's just say I have been 'taking out the trash' in my life - in with new out with old.

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1. First big change... I put up a gate on my road to keep strangers in vehicles and 4 wheelers and gators OUT, and keep JuJu the donkey IN. So far it's working it's function really well. I already planned on doing this, but the point was driven harder to get this gate up for JuJu patrol when a bobcat came and killed 6 chickens and my female duck. (I found the bobcat tracks and no other tracks around.)
One big drawback, JuJu started trying to eat my house. Ya'll may argue this, but it is just to get my attention and be an asshole... she has hay and green things and a salt lick to eat. She learned quickly that eating the house made me come out the house and be mad.... she don't care about the mad part. :0
BTW -Did I mention this gate also helps keep out random rednecks? Yay!

2. Then I started finally doing all the laundry that had been building up, got my Lehman's Hand Washer drain unclogged... hang drying clothes and sheets on the line, when the sun finallllllly shined day after day.

3. Got all the literal trash loaded up in my truck and my uncle's truck... which lead me into....

4. a house cleaning SPREE! You know the neglect is bad when a 425 sq ft house takes over 3 days to get cleaned up. To be fair i was cleaning outside too, plus cleaning out my soul and disposing of outdated relationship knick knacks, etc....

5. NEW GUTTERS (hooked up to rain barrels)! woo! the old gutters were ripped off the house during the winter by the extreme amount of snow and ice on the roof (bent the thing right in half like a twist tie). Now the new gutters are hooked into the rain barrels!

6. Did i mention taking the trash out of my love life & heart? I did a dance about it for myself and my friend Heather (the one who had brain surgery recently & is going through a break up). Watch it HERE if you dare, cause it's got pazzaz and passion.

7. Outside shower is FIXED! yay! There was a tiny amount of PVC piping left on there and it had of course cracked during the winter. I had stop valves put on the shower for winter time and all the piping for the cabin & outside shower are now PEX only. None of the pex ever broke.

8. BUGS.... of course. I have been looking at all the new bugs coming out. Moths and caterpillars and flying crawling, wiggling things.
9. and i am working on getting vitamin D.... a nice tan with freckles, sunshine, every moment i can, every moment till my skin says it's reached it's daily dose. After this winter.... the daily dose is alot higher then normal.
10. And lastly.... i FINALLY got my passport in the mail! Now i can run away at anytime. to. well. Anywhere in the world. Being the smarty pants i am, i am saving money for when the moment comes... because one thing is for sure, I won't spend another full winter up here at this cabin by myself. Not cause I am pussy, but cause I have done it and learned that it's not safe, healthy, normal, or good for one person to do alone. Not at this property. So I will be ready with "get out of jail" card just in case I go out with a big bang.

***
I love change. It's so good.

XOXOOOX

Spring Sprung, Life At The Luck Cabin

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Spring stuff coming up.
(the music and background noise mixed together in a way i didn't intend... and got a little creepy.)



xoxo

Warm Sunny Days Make....

Being Warm & Sunny Makes So Much POssible! *
1. eating watermelon in the sun 2. getting vitamin D & nice tan 3. planting seeds to grow an awesome organic garden 4. watching the animals lay down in sunny spots & run free, yay! 5. don't need no socks and shoes.... 6. for that matter, underwear becomes optional too! 7. hanging clothes to dry on the line, they come out smelling sooooo good 8. Theoretically could be sprayed with a hose for fun 9. Can open windows for fresh air 10. everything is just easier!!!!!!!!

* xoxoxoox

Cha Cha Cha Changes

Sometimes I want to change my life. It's possibly a habit I have developed over the years... made worse by changing seasons (which I did not experience growing up in the tropical south.)
But on this rainy PMS day, i have no clue what the change is i desire. Or no real way to plan it out.
When it is something simple like, 'i want to move' then i can look for a new house. When it is vague and lingering, almost nagging - it has no rules, it has no plans, it's only a strong desire that hasn't found a form.
*
I want things, that I dont know if i can have. And if I can have them, I dont know how i will get from point A to point B... although usually the dominoes keep falling on their own knocking the next day into the next without any effort on my part.

Xoxoxox

Winter's Close

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*
In spite of the fact that it snowed here again a few days ago, it is slowly melting, dripping and soaking the ground at this very moment. Spring wants to be here so bad. I can see it in the neighbors dog's coat which is flinging hair into the air, i can see it when i get close to the ground and tiny green things are coming up, so tiny i cant identify which wild plant they will be.... tiny inch worms coming out from under a leaf, then going back into hiding. Frogs croaking a mating call that sounds like women gossiping furiously.... then silence in the cold of the night.
I am ready. Of course, who isnt ready for this long winter to end? I am ready for the sun to tan and mark my skin, to exaggerate every freckle on my face, to give me energy while relaxing my soul.
The winter has been a weary sort of nightmare. I never really thought about it before hand but I suppose it was my first winter living in the woods, sustainable, remote and totally alone. I have been living in the woods over ten years now... most the time i had some partner (ah, boyfriends...i remember those!)... and during those years most of my sustainable living was just in the learning phases, it certainly wasn't this hardcore.
If you have a partner right now, at this very moment, be thankful - even if they suck in some ways... the only reason to not be thankful is if they suck so bad they dont even help ya carry in wood to stay warm. Otherwise, another pair of arms is like.... heaven during the winter!
Can we all do it alone? Probably shouldnt, but anyone half healthy can do it. Can we all stay sane living like this alone? I doubt most can. You might think I stayed sane... but i don't think i really stayed healthy in my mind throughout this semi-off grid winter.
Depression, exasperation, anger, resentment, insane laughter, cursing, frustration ... were all my friends. You could even say they were my partner, since there was a void to fill where no extra helping hand existed. Anger might motivate me to keep pushing through the snow, anger would say "don't stop now, don't let the snow get ya! the snow will not defeat you!", as i pushed up a mile long steep hill carrying so much food on my tiny back I thought i would break, but instead got hypothermia. All the emotions we like to dub as "bad" and "negative" are great motivators. I kept from falling asleep with hypothermia in the the snow by yelling out things into the empty frozen air - things i resented in my life, i released them, and changed them soon as i got home.
*
Now, snow drips, melts - it tries to wet my last pile of firewood... since the ice ripped off the gutters on the cabin a while back. Wet wood, does not keep you as warm, wet wood is annoying but I will burn it regardless. I have gotten to the point that i can light a great fire with using only one single match to begin with. YAY! i think... that matters? But only if i choose this way of life.
*
Did a winter of slipping on snow and ice, fainting, cutting my hand, cursing frozen water, cursing a dirty body, and being snowed in away from humans make me not want to live this way? Does it make me want to be back in the city in central heat and TV?

No fucking way!
When the city lights go out and there is no heat, i am still warm and cooking on my wood stove.
To put it crudely.... ya know how people say "once you go black you never go back"...
*ehem*
well, its kinda like that, but with nature.

xoxoxox

From Green To Yellow

It happened suddenly... but secretly and slowly. The trees gave hints here and there that they were going to change colors, that the hope of summer was long gone and the preperations for winter was all we should be doing. Then last evening I looked up into the trees as I tucked my animals in for the night... and everything had turned yellow.

Xoxoxooo

Signs Of Spring Part 3: Birds & Bees in Flowers & Trees

Yay! The first really warm day of spring is here and although it can snow a few more times, the grass is still dead, and it's hard to imagine the trees will ever show their leaves again... it's 70 degrees today! Here are the pictures I took in celebration of the change of season.

XOXO

Signs Of Spring Part 2

Are you wanting to push the little daisies and make them come up & tiptoe through the tulips? I am sooooo ready for spring warmth I have been outside crawling around the yard searching for the slightest sign that it truly is on it's way.

1. Cardinal in a Quince Bush looking for a lady friend.
2. Micro sized wildflowers blooming into a delicate ground cover.

3. Crickets!!!! This poor guy is missing a leg though, since my kitty Toots found him first.

4. Longer days with the sun moving to a new place in the sky.

xoxo

Signs Of Spring

Spring makes me feel like I am going to bust at the seams! Here's some pics of spring's awakening...

1. Buds and leaves are slowly bubbling out of branches and breaking free.

2. Lillies and Daffodils are poking out the ground and ready to dance in the wind.

3. Little wildflowers are blooming close to the ground.

4. I am wearing my favorite red pumps to tromp around the yard in.

There's so much tiny beauty to see everyday!

xoxo

Transition Into Winter

I like to watch nature take it's course, and there is beauty even in the decay that comes when fall leads into winter.