mommato3boys

I kept hearing sssshhh’ing but I didn’t know where it was coming from. All I knew is it was still dark and I snuggled deeper in the pillow. It is awful hot to be so dark. What is that noise? I sat up looking around me. I was in my bed but for the life of me I could not remember how I got there. The last thing I remember was the kids riding off last night and me settling back in the lounge chair. Oh man I can not lift my arms today they feel like lead weights. I struggle out of bed and head to the kitchen. Whooooaaa!!!! That is bright wait if it is so bright out here in the living room how come it is so dark in the bed room, I turn around and head back to the bedroom to investigate. There is a quilt over the window. Who put the quilt over the window? What in the heck is going on? I quickly slip in to my clothes and shoes and head out to find out just what time it really is and as I rush out of the bedroom I ran right in to a brick wall with arms. As I try to focus I hear “Well good afternoon sleeping beauty” AFTERNOON?! SF chuckled as let go of me. He said he was coming in to check on me that he and the guys were on a lunch break LUNCH! I slept the morning away I can’t believe I slept the morning away. SF said I feel asleep in the lounge chair last night and he put me to bed…(I don’t remember) he also said he took pity on me because I tossed and turned and moaned in my sleep all night he said it must have been my shoulders because every time he touched them I would flinch. So early this morning around 3 or so he gave me 2 Aleve and let me sleep in. Dang no wonder I slept to lunch 2 Aleve I never take Aleve 1 Motrin yes possibly 2 Motrin but never Aleve (even IRL I don’t take OTC drugs) He said he figured it was from pulling weeds and then wrestling with the goats, deer, and bear yesterday. I told him I didn’t remember taking the Aleve. He said he didn’t think I really woke up I just drank the water swallowed and laid back down. I joined the guys out in the summer kitchen they were having sandwiches. A had sent up some cobbler and they had raided leftovers for sandwiches. I still was groggy and yawning. Needless to say they were having a blast ribbing me. I told them it was all their dad’s fault that he drugged me. That only made it worse. Sf showed me what they had gotten done on the green house and I was really impressed. They had the walls almost done. They were in the process of building frames for the plexi-glass. Some one had even started stacking bricks for our cottage. SF noticed me looking at footings for the new cottage. He said that P had started laying stones for the new cottage. He said he didn’t know if we would be in it this year or not but he hoped to have it closed in so we would be able to work on it this winter. I asked what the next project was since the gardens were coming along and it looked like everyone was now under a roof. P said that he and need needed a water source on their land and would probably drill wells. I reminded him that we had those hand pumps that we brought with us. W said they were still crated and were in the barn. So wells then what. W said he wanted to start work on wind power that the valley seemed to have a constant breeze and he wanted to start getting power going. I said I would like to see the freezer hooked up and on solar panels again. We could really use that with the meat. They all agreed. Plus it would be nice to have ice for tea this summer. Plus then we can make ice cream. That was the thing that sealed the deal. W said he would start work on the solar panels next week. We talked about where we would put it and I suggested the cave in the front area where it will be the pantry that way we would not have to move it again. I left the guys and started exploring looking at the berries to see what was coming. There were a few wild strawberries and few blackberries so I gathered them and then went looking for greens. By the time I got back I had enough greens for a salad for dinner. I decided to dry the few blackberries but I would make a pound cake and serve fresh strawberries over it. Maybe in a few by next weekend I will be making jam who knows.

AS I stretched and yawned this morning I realized I was alone. SF was already up and doing chores. I smelled the coffee so I turned back over and snoozed a little longer. I knew that breakfast was ready. I had put grits in the thermos last night and let them cook over night. I even added some cheese powder. SF loved cheese grits. I missed packing a pan of biscuits yesterday so we have biscuits this morning also. As I lay there I thought back over yesterday. Climbing in the wagon to come home was hard not only because I was tired and sore but because I missed the fellowship. There is still some chinking to be done on the barn so the kids are going back over today to help finish that up and then get the animals moved in. SF said he and I will needed to stay behind this morning we still have all that meat to deal with, can not let it go to waste. It was so good spending time with Mother’s group and the Q’s again. Mother promised to let us know when they were going to start building so we could all come over and help. She said right now they are working in the caves and planting gardens. She didn’t say it but since they are further up in the mountains than we are I suspect they have rockier ground and it is not as flat. I think Q was more thrilled to see the biscuits and honey than she was us LOL I have found her weakness LOL! Everyone enjoyed the goat. Even though I had it slathered in spices I could still taste the gameness of it but it was still good. I think if it had been a younger goat it would not have been as gamey tasting. SF said the other two goats were younger so we will see. As we were cleaning up from lunch Mother asked what I was going to do with the bear that was hanging. I told her I was going to can it, smoke it, make jerky, sausage, and take some to Chef then the skin was going to become a rug in front of the fire place to remind SF why he was now on a short leash. She laughed she reminded me that she didn’t think bears would come this close to humans…she caught me constantly glancing around for SF. I told her I know that but I am still a little skittish especially after the coyotes stole one of the smaller goats we had hanging. At least they didn’t go after the livestock. Mother and Q both agreed that adapting our lives to the wild was a little difficult especially if we were not used to having wildlife so close. We moved on to talking about recipes and I asked about canning burgers if she thought they would hold their form. Q suggested searing them then canning them I never thought about that. I told her I would give it a try. SF came and dragged me out of bed just as the sun was peaking through the trees. He said we needed to get started on the meat before it got to warm. He already had several different types of wood ready for the smoke house. I asked if we couldn’t just stay right there and take the day off and he was cruel and mean and said no just as he flipped the covers back and grabbed me by my ankles and drug me out of bed. Mean man. LOL. So it was off the summer kitchen and a big black bear. We dealt with the two goats first they were cleaned and butchered sent to the smoke house. The pheasants were cleaned, 6 were packed and put in the canner 4 others were set aside to go on the spit. The deer went through the chop shop also. We made jerky, ground some for chili, taco meat, and stripped some for fajitas and some for stew. Then there was the bear…man he was big. I didn’t think we were going to get him skinned then on the table so he could be butchered. But we have all sorts of cuts of meat from steaks to burgers. We saved the intestines of the goats and deer for sausage but the bear intestine we are going to use it for boudin since I put rice in my boudin I use bigger casings. So by the end of the day when the kids stopped by on their way home we loaded them up with meat. They were pleased to see that I had used pint jars to can the meat in. That way when they cook for themselves they won’t waste any. We know when we all get together we will have to open 2 or 3 jars but it is better to do that and can all in quarts and waste some when we eat alone. I can just imagine what it will be like this fall when we really store up the meat for the winter and we butcher the pigs. N who is the bottomless pit asked what was for dinner. I didn’t know that boy could duck and move that fast but when the pot holder when whizzing by him he laughed and dodged it. He then had the nerve to tell me I was getting old. Sassy boy he needs to be taken out behind the wood shed….WOOD SHED???? We don’t have a wood shed. I told him that was his punishment he had to build me a wood shed so that I would have some where to take him and beat him. My 6foot Marine that is all muscle just laughed at his 5’5” mother...sassy boy. I asked if they had finished up at the Q’s and P said the barn is officially finished I knew they were happy and would sleep better knowing their animals were safe. N asked if we needed help with the green house and we said no that we could handle that. He said ok that he would work on his fireplace and should be able to finish it tomorrow. W said we needed to start working on fencing for the animals to which we all agreed. So it was decided that tomorrow W&P would go and cut more trees N would finish his wall and we would work on the green house. A said she had laundry to do and she needed to weed the garden. SF told them all to meet at our place for dinner tomorrow night and we would discuss the fencing. SF and I watched them ride off and could not be more proud of our kids. Here they had agreed to come in to a very primitive way of life, a life they only experience when camping and now they were living it 24/7; they had grown, matured and were not the same kids that started out oh so many months ago complaining for weeks on end. The preacher, the nerd and the politician…we did good SF we did good.

Monday Well the boys finished the door to the cave last night and everyone slept so much better. There were no howling in the backyard last night. We were up before the sun this morning had our chores done and where headed over to the Q's with the roasted mt goat that was starving me. Man that thing smells good. The biscuits are wraps with in a crate with some hot rocks to keep them warm and I packed 3 gallons of pure honey. There are 4 loaves of bread so we so be good for lunch. We brought almost every tool we have from gardening tools to chain saws. I will be glad when the corn starts coming in so we can make our own fuel. We did bring some with us but with the number of trees we have cut and are going to need to cut we have gone through quite a bit. We arrived at the Q's just as chores where finished. Hopefully they were like most of us and did chores first so these biscuits could be eaten while they were still warm. Mrs Q was so happy to see us P was teasing her that she was going to have to be gentle she was cracking his ribs, we all laughed. Mother said for such a little thing she sure had a tight grip (little thing haha look who is talking lol) Any Mr Q took the men over to look at where the barn was going and explain what his plans were. A and I started unloading food. Q what thrilled to see the goat and biscuits. We had a breakfast buffet that morning, from eggs and oatmeal to biscuits and honey and dried fruit. It was almost like being on the trail again but more relaxed. I told Mother and Q we were going to have to get everyone to load up and ride around the valley so things would seem normal again. We all laughed at the horrified looks on the mens faces. I said it was a joke guys A JOKE! I was still getting the evil eye though. After everyone ate tools were pulled out and the men went to work. Q, mother and myself cleaned up and took a tour. A headed to the garden to pull weeds. After the tour we joined A in the garden and started the dreaded task of weeding. I swear those weeds had weeds under them as soon as you pull one - one showed up in its place. The sun was climbing on in the sky when Q suggested we stop and get lunch ready. She was sure the men would be starving by now.

Well I had a surprise this morning. I walked out expecting to see the meat hanging and it was gone! Then I noticed P was in the lounge chair right in the door of the cold cave. It seems they had problems with coyotes last night (how I slept through that I have no idea yes I do...emotional wipe out) and they moved the animals into the cave. P said it made standing guard easier and the smell was not coming out of the cave. He said where they moved them to had to be around 68 so they would be good for a day or two. He was staying behind to be guard until we got back. He said he relieved N about 4 hours ago so he could get some sleep. W&A arrived about then with the wagon and dog kennel for the goat. I had the crate for the puppies. SF had finished the chores so we were headed out. We would not stay for the dinner today none of us liked the idea of leaving just one guy behind. Especially since N had been up for about about 24 straight and was asleep. We would not go if we hadn't planned on meeting up with Mother. We used horses this morning and made good time. We got there as everyone else was arriving. I didn't see the Q's yet but I did see Mother. I asked her if they moving since they were in their wagon and it was stocked for a trip. She said they were headed over to Q's to help. That concerned me as P&N had been splitting their time between us and them. I asked her what was going on and explained about P&N she said they wanted to start on the barn but the two of them couldn't do it. SF was standing there and said well I guess we will just have a barn raising tomorrow. That our green house can wait a few days. Our animals were undercover and we need to help the Q's get their's under cover. SF headed off to find W and tell him what we were doing tomorrow. As SF left Mother noticed my face and asked what was wrong. I didn't realize my emotions were still written all over my face. I told her about the hunting trip yesterday and what happen with SF. I told her it scared me spitless and I am sure they glossed over the story as not to worry me. But just knowing how close I came to loosing him. Mother just hugged me...she totally understood. After the tears stopped she handed me a hankie and said MEN can't live with and can't live without them. We both laughed. I told her at least we have plenty of meat to feed the work crew tomorrow and the next day. I explained that we were not staying for lunch that N was asleep after being up nearly 24 hours and P was the only one standing guard (I also explained about the coyote problem last night) and none of us were comfortable with leaving them behind. So as soon as the Prayer Meeting was over we were headed out. And as soon as I got home we would butcher a goat and cook it in a pit today and all night and bring it down tomorrow. She said that sounded like a wonderful idea. I left her then as her family was waving her over and SF, W&A were waiting on me. I passed Chef on the way to my family and asked how the honey comb was holding up and he said he still had plenty for now. I told him around that we planned on raiding the hive in a few weeks and I would bring him some more. As I settled down between SF and W for the Prayer Meeting W leaned over and asked if I thought that the Q's needed anything other than the barn built. I told him I didn't know that we could talk to P&N when we got home. I also told him and SF that we needed to dig a pit when we got home. That I was going to pit cook one of the goats and take it down to the Q's tomorrow to feed the work crew. A said we needed to take some bread too. So it was all planned they would come back to the cabin with us and the guys would dig the pit while A& I butchered the mt goat and get it ready and then we would start on the bread. SF asked if there were any pheasant left that was cooked on the spit last night and I told him there were two left that I had put them in the cave where it was cool. He said good we could have them for dinner. He asked what I thought about fajitas made with pheasant. I told him I didn't see why not I could rehydrate some onion and bell pepper and we could try it. After the Prayer Meeting Mother met me & A at her wagon and we picked up our puppies and the blanket I sent with her last week. There were two that came right too us. They were just fat little butterballs. I could tell Mother was attached to them her eyes were awful shinny when we put them in the crate for the ride home. I hugged her and told her she could visit anytime. She laughed and said she may have too, she didn't know if Sasha would forgive her for not bringing them back. I told her Sasha could visit too. We hugged and said we would see each other tomorrow at the Q's. SF&W had the goat loaded when I got to the wagon she wasn't to happy to be penned up but she settled down and took a nap on the way back to the cabin. SF said we would need to stop and water the horses since we were running them a little harder than normal but that shouldn't take long. A passed out the left over blueberry muffins and pheasant that I had packed. We rode back pretty much in silence we were all lost in our own thoughts. Well except for W he had strechted out and fell asleep. When we arrived home N was awake but still looked tired. I told him that the only thing on the agenda for today was to butcher a mt. goat and dig a pit. That we were all going down to help raise a barn at Q's tomorrow. W asked if he thought they needed anything else. N said that they could always use help since it was just the two of them. We all set about getting the mt. goat ready to go in the pit once that was done. A & I started on bread and tortilla shells. I noticed that the guys were loading the wagon with tools for tomorrow. But I couldn't figure out why they were loading the garden tools. A said that W had suggested that we take the garden tools so that we could help Q weed their gardens. That he knew how hard we had been working to keep our gardens weed free. I couldn't help but smile. The one son that was not the first to step up and help people was worried about someone else's garden. After dinner was cleaned and W&A had headed back to their place. I noticed P&N working on a door for the cave. SF said that they were going to seal it up to keep wild animals out. Since the cave had no other entrace they felt that if they could seal this side the meat would be safe tomorrow. The puppies were playing with Boss. He was just laying there letting them climb all over him. Every once in a while he would growl at them if they got to rough but over all he was letting them have their way. A had decided to leave her puppy here until they got used to being away from Sasha she said she would come get him once we were finished over at the Q's that she didn't want him to get lonely during the day. Miss Priss the goat had settled back in with the other goats. It was like she was never gone. Since this is her first litter I am glad we bred her with Mother's dwarf goats. Miss Priss is on the small side herself. P&N had finished the door and joined us. P said that he saw one of the male mt. goats close to where we had our goats staked out today. He said that he was pretty sure one of them was coming into season and the male was checking her out. I wouldn't mind the crossbred but I don't want mt goat trying to cut her out of our stock and making her wild. We will have to watch that, we may have another mt. goat hanging in the cave before long. I left the men talking and headed to bed. I told SF I wanted to get up early and finish the biscuits I have started that I was taking biscuits and honey over for breakfast in the morning. I heard N as his dad how I was doing after yesterday. SF said this was the first time I had let him out of my sight. They all chuckled what he didn't know was I could still see him :-}

The guys were up and gone before dawn this morning. They had taken horses and a couple donkeys. They were going across the river to the other side of the mountain where we spoted goats or sheep we are not sure. SF don't expect them back before mid afternoon. I went back to bed for a while. I don't get to lay in many mornings and this morning seemed like a good time for an extra snooze. It was later than normal when I got up so I hurried through my morning chores. I am so glad that they girls are laying again. I am getting about a dozen eggs a day now. Some of the other hens we brought along are finally starting to lay. Once P&N get their place finished I will give them each 3 hens and a rooster. But until then the chickens are split between me and A. Lucky and Ethel's chicks are all running around now. I need to build some more chicken trackers. I wish I could let them just run free but we are too high up in the moutains and have wild-life issues, mostly hawks and coyotes. Did kill a chicken snake the other day before he got in the tracker. He was the girls all in a tizzy and SF saw him and hollered. So me and my trusty hoe dispatched him. I chopped it up and tossed some to Boss and the rest over in the hog pen and they were happy. I had just finished setting up the summer kitchen when A arrived. She had hooked up an oxen and come over. She had brought some jars and lids. She figured we would need them. She had also brought the canner that her grandmother gave her before we left. Since the guys were not back she and I started digging the footings for the green house and cottage. We cut the sod and set it aside so we would have it for the roof. We had just finished the footings for the cottage and started on the green house when the guys rode up. They had deer, elk, moutain goats, pheasants, and a bear. Bear? SF got the bear. SF said they had split up and were circling the moutain when he came upon the bear and spooked it. He said it was the bear or him so the bear lost. By the look on the boys face I am sure there were more to that story than I want to know. I am just thankful they were home safe and sound. They had to make a travois of sorts to haul the bear back. SF said the bear was too big to put on the donkey's or horse's back so they had to drag it home. The boys were already stringing the large animals up in trees and A had taken the pheasants and had started working on them. They knew I was not going to let that bear story go and so did SF. He looked at me and said leave it alone I am home alive and we have enough bear meat to get us and Boss through a month or so. I asked if he was hurt and he said just his pride. He said that when he rounded the curve in the trail the bear spooked the horse and the horse threw him. The bear charged but when fell he had rifle and hand gun on him. The boys heard it and came around behind the bear. But he had already shot it a couple of times and then they slit its juggler just to be on the safe side. He said it didn't touch him but it was a horrifing sight to see it stand on its hind legs when he was laying on the ground. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. He said look at it this way we have a rug for in front of the fireplace. If I wasn't so angry with him I would have smacked him. I left SF standing there and I went to help A with the pheasants. I took two and finished cleaning them while she dealt with the others and started on dinner. We were going to try out SF new spit in the summer kitchen. I while I worked on the pheasants I thought I must find Annarchy. I made notes about cleaning hides but since I never did I don't want to ruin these hides. Especially since SF wanted a rug out of the bear. Maybe she will be at the lodge tomorrow if not we will have to ride out and find her. The pheasants were on the spit and put rolls in the new adobe oven and found potato flakes for mashed potatoes. There were also enough greens in my buckets that would could have a salad. I still had some carrots and my snow pea bush in the bucket had some little pods we can have those. I had rehydrated some blueberries for muffins but decided I would make a dump cake instead so I mixed it up and buried it in the coals under the spit and set some more berries to rehydrate. I noticed the guys had walked over and were looking at the hotspring next thing I knew they were digging a trench right through my green house. N said we needed the trench dug before we started laying rocks. They were going to have it run into a pool outside of the green house so that it would be easy for me to walk out and get hot water anytime I needed it. Every once in a while I would feel eyes on me and I looked over and see SF and the boys watching me. I couldn't understand what they were whispering I just knew I was getting strange looks. I think they were waiting for the shock to wear off and for me to have a major melt down. What they don't know is I am trying not to think about just how close I come to loosing half of me today. My goal was not to fall apart now maybe later. They were about half through with the trench when I called them to dinner. As we sat around the table in the summer kitchen it was nice have some sort of normality back in our lives. We discussed going to lodge tomorrow. We needed to go because we were to pick up the goat and the puppies. We decided that we would take the buck board again and take the travel crate for the goat and crate for the puppies. P&N said they would stay the night and stand guard. They built a couple of fires around the place to keep the wildlife away. They also said they stay behind so that they could start work on the meat. It was too warm to leave it hanging long. Overnight wasn't so bad since it was still cool but not during the day. After dinner A and I canned the pheasants and got them out of the way. So that we would be ready to start work on the meat tomorrow. While P&N went back to the trench SF & W started work on smoke house. We had plenty of logs so they pulled out the chainsaws working on a smoke house. They said they would use the wood left from the lean-to and make the roof. So by sun down I had a little 5x5x7 smoke house. SF said it was small but it would work for now. He said after the cabin was finished and before we slaughter this fall he would make it bigger. After W&A left I pulled out some material and the sewing machine and made sacks to store meat in once it was smoked. It was late when I finally turned in, Sf was awake reading when I went to bed. He said he was waiting on me because he knew I had not let him have it yet. I just looked at him and crawled in to bed and proceeded to bawl like a new born baby. I don't know how long I cried but he just held me. When I cried out I told him never ever do that to me again. He said don't worry the boys had already said that they would go in twos from now on.

(Short Post IRL we are preparing for a winter storm and we are to get mostly ice-I hate ice so if you don't hear from me for a few days you will know why...no power) Friday, Well today was a grand day...SF declared the summer kitchen complete. I was so glad but I was too tired to cook in there tonight. So we had hobo dinners in the fire pit. Tomorrow I will set the kitchen up and move stuff out there while SF digs and the boys go hunting. Now that we have a way to can they are going out hunting early in the morning so that we can have more than a days worth of meat on hand. Before we start the house we have to build a new smoke house since what was a smoke house is now a bee hive. While the guys are hunting I will get the kitchen set up. SF even build me some cabinets out there out of the crates we brought with us so I can store my cookware. Tomorrow we will also be hauling more rocks. Today while SF finished the cook island and the oven in the summer kitchen I cut wood/logs and built a work table and shelves for the green house. I also built some raised beds and some square foot beds so that when they green house is finished I can start getting it ready to plant. I want to get some plants going and established before it turns cold. Well it of to be for me tomorrow is another long day.

Tuesday, May 25 Today we finished the 4ft walls to the summer kitchen. SF worked on the chimney and while I cut sod. P&W rode over around lunch time to check on us since they had not heard form us. P said he had the main fire place done and was working on the chimney then he would rock the wall and blend it into the logs walls. P said N had gone over and helped Mr. Q yesterday but back at home working on his chimney. N sent word he would come over later that he wanted to talk to us but was going to work as long as he had daylight. A had fixed sandwiches for him and he was working and eating. W&P left after they decided that in the morning they would leave early to go hunting. SF went back to working on the cook island. He finished the chimney before lunch. We had done quite a bit yesterday so he just had to get it taller than the roof and put the cap on it. He had hooked up a pulley system and sent up a bucket of mortar and a bucket of rocks and he could then stay in one place and work one the chimney. He said it seemed to go faster that way. Where I had been cutting sod was right in the heat of the day so I decided to get a head start on dinner. I used what I think is my last jar of canned chicken and make chicken and dumplings, I also found a jar of green beans and set them to cooking. While that was going I checked the bread I had put in the camp stove before lunch and it was just about done so I started on dinner rolls and desert. I don’t have all my food unpacked and sorted so I am still working out of boxes and crates. It is sort like a treasure hunt when I cook. So while I was hunting for chicken earlier I ran across a box of cake mix and decided to make dump cake for desert. I see right now the next project is to get my kitchen organized this is driving me insane. I can not find anything. I am OCD about my kitchen and this has pushed and stretched me but I can’t take it any more. The sun was still beating down where I was cutting sod so I planted another round of beans, squash, corn, okra, and peas and green onions. We are doing this so that the harvest is staggered and we take full advantage of the growing season around here. After a couple of hours the sun had moved on over and I went back to cutting more sod. Where we are cutting sod we are going to plant winter wheat. There is this big bald spot in the wide open field it looks pitiful but we won’t plant wheat until September or October. I got the cart loaded (I am using the animal cart and a donkey to haul sod since everyone else is using the wagons.) and started walking back towards the summer kitchen when N rode up. Poor kid looked worn slap out. He said he is about half through with the chimney. He had dug the footings for the brick wall last night after he got back from Q’s so he was ready to go early this morning. He said that this is definitely not a one person job. A had helped him today but tomorrow he is going to need some one stronger because he would be working above A’s head and she will not climb a ladder. I told him about the pulley system his dad had rigged up and I was pretty sure he was through with it if he wanted to ask him about using it tomorrow. N said he would talk to him that a pulley system would work if A helped him again. She could stay on the ground and just load buckets. As we arrived back at the cabin N made a b-line straight for the camp stove…said oh boy I arrived just in time…chicken and dumplings! (his favorite). I shooed him away and sent him to help his dad to finish up so we could eat. He took the donkey and cart over to the summer kitchen and helped his dad lay the sod on the roof and water it. I thought SF and N were going to fight over licking the pan clean that had the dumplings in it. Looking at N I realized just how much weight he had lost. I noticed SF had lost some also; I need to really look at the other 3 also and do some major adjusting to our diets. I must get with A and increase the calories we are feeding the guys. We don’t’ want a much of empty calories but we don’t want them loosing muscle either. Any back to what N wanted to talk about….N asked how we would feel if he took one of the wagons apart and built a couple of buggies out of it. He said that it would make it easier for us to get around. SF told him he didn’t see any problem with that. SF also mentioned that we need to look into building a couple of sleds so we can get around this winter. He reminded N that we had brought the stuff with us to build a sleigh. I left the two talking and cleaned up from dinner. Talk had turned to the hot spring when I finished and they were walking over to look at what could be done to turn it into a usable source of heat for the green house. N agreed with SF that they should be able to dig out a small pool where the spring comes out of the mountain and let it fill up. The only thing was they would have to be quick and stop the flow or redirect it until the pool was dug and lined with rocks so that it wouldn’t be a mud pit. N suggested that maybe we should dig a trench and let it run through the middle of the green house then into the pool where we pump it into the house. I like the trench idea; anything to save the plants in the green house this winter and especially if I get hot water in the house. N said he needed to head back since it was starting to get dark. SF told him that if they had planned on going hunting in the morning if he wanted to go along. N said he would be here early with the others. As he rode off SF told me that he suspected there was more to that buggy building than N talked about. SF said that he is pretty sure that some young lady has caught his eye and he thought N wanted a buggy so that he could go courting.

Sunday May 23 It was good to see so many at the Lodge today. Chef assured me that he would distribute the honey to those that were in need then he would share with everyone else. Like Mother he is concerned that people are short on supplies since the supplies didn’t make it. We saw Mother and made arrangements to get the puppies next week. We will bring the foldable kennel with us and put them in it. I did give her an old blanket for them to start using so that when they were separated from Sasha they would still have the smell around them. We saw the Q’s also and bless her heart Quilty is sick. N told Mr. Q he would come over early tomorrow to help so that Mrs. Q could get some much needed rest. I asked her if she needed more honey and she said no that they still had plenty. She said Marilyn was a doll and was giving them enough milk each day. She told me that she had also gotten a goat from Mother and now she would have enough for milk for cheese and yogurt also. Mr. Smith also spoke with me and told me that they did have enough for a mail run and also there was some mail that come in but he didn’t know who got it that we just needed to check in the lodge. The fellowship was so refreshing. Listening to everyone talk about what they were doing, what they had found and how they were planting their gardens was great. Many are doing the say thing as we are and that is planting weekly so that all the harvest doesn’t come in at once and it last longer. We were all tired when we arrived home. SF and I climb up to the ledge just above us and sat and watched the sun set. We watch the wild life hunker down for the night and the birds settle in their nest and just listened as everything around use just quieted down. As we walked back in the cabin we were once again thankful for all of our blessings. Monday May 24 After the morning chores were done and bread was set to rise, SF and I took about an hour and went fishing so we would have fish for lunch and dinner. It didn’t take long to get a stringer full of bass and brim. We cleaned them and let them put them in pan and set them in the cold spring to chill until it was lunch time. We had stake the summer kitchen staked out but after the discovery of the cave we decided we needed to move it since the cottage would also be moved over some. After we determined where it would be put we marked it off and dug the footings and poured some mortar and started laying rocks. By lunch time we only had three rows of rocks laid but the hard part was over. The rest of the walls would go up quickly especially since they were just half walls. After lunch we make a couple more rounds of rocks and then put in the support post and incorporated them in the walls for added support. It will have a sod roof and that will be another job since we will have to cut it. We were will over half way done when we called it a day. We had evening chores to attend to and those bass were calling my name. After we cleaned up and SF headed to tend to the animals I started dinner. At lunch I had just breaded and fried the brim but tonight I grilling the bass with rehydrated last of the squash, onions and mushrooms. I even surprising SF with banana pudding. I hydrated some bananas and made some vanilla pudding. No vanilla wafers but I do have some drop cookies I made they taste sort of like vanilla wafers so I will use those. I will just crumble cookies on top. Either way SF will be happy. Banana pudding is his favorite.

Michael these are very sharp knives. You could cut a finger off and not realize it until afterwards. (it is the only kind of knives I have in my kitchen) The problem is I can't cut a straight line it was thin on one end thick in the middle and I am not even sure it had another end to it. LOL I tried cutting long ways with the grain I may do better cutting it from the short end across the grain. This is my first attempt at cutting slab back ever, I have always bought sliced bacon. If I ever have to buy slab bacon we may just have to have it served in chunks.

A MEAT SLICER!!!!!! So I tried an experiment. I bought a slab of bacon and could not slice a decent piece of bacon to save my life.

Well we had a change of plans today. The kids decided they wanted to work on their place and they said we couldn't help so SF and I saddled up and spent the day exploring. We found several types of berries even some wild strawberries. Found another stream but the best find of all was when we started cutting vines out back again. There was a cave right outside the back door. It had been used as a root cellar at one time. There were baskets in it. It is cool in there. The spring that runs out by the cabin comes from there. But off to the side. It is a tall cave SF can stand up in it with no problem. It is actually a cave within a cave or a two room cave. The small cave has the spring running through it and it cold water. SF said we could use that part of the cave as a spring house and the larger room as the pantry/root cellar. It is just going to mean a lot of rock work. SF wants to eventually build a rock house to replace the cabin. He wants an old English cottage type of house. So we will be building as we go. The cabin was just temporary. As a matter of fact he has started on the plans. I have always wanted a round house and as we build the summer kitchen and green house they will be built so that the new cottage will attach to them with no problem. Our goal right now is to get everyone under a roof and gardens planted. Then the real construction begins. Well enough of our future plans. We did get a lot of fallen wood gathered for the fire place and for the wood stove this winter. We stacked it in the back of the barn by the wagon. I am not sure how cold it will get here so I want to have a good bit of wood. We also gathered more bee comb today for Chef. He is getting a full 5 gallon bucket. We also gather a 5 gallon but for ourselves and each of the boys. We also unpacked more crates today and repacked some with food to go down to the kids. There are still lots more crates to go. Some is clothes some is kitchen stuff we don't need yet some of it is books and some of it is supplies we will need when we start putting up the harvest. I am still looking for all of the cook ware. It must still be in W's barn. I guess tomorrow we will stop by there on our way back and go through some of those crates. While we were out today W came up and skinned the deer and cut it up. Boss was a happy puppy tonight I think W spoiled him too much today with the trimmings. He had the fire going and it on the spit when we got home. It was nice not to have to cook tonight. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow. I hope the weather holds and we don't get rain before tomorrow night. We start the edge front today but it looked like it was stalled out. We will have to wait and see. Well it is getting dark and SF just told me he dumped the tub and has filled it with hot water for me. So I am off to soak this sore muscles.

Another productive day in the valley. Both cabins now have 3 walls up and roofing supports but now comes the fun part...the fireplaces and sodding the roofs. We had enough trees to also put up two small barns basically it was just two stalls but it will keep their animals dry. Tomorrow we the summer kitchen and the green house. SF and I will set the supports while the other 4 will take wagons and hall rocks and sod. Our goal is to have everything in place by the end of next week. Then we can work on stuff as needed like chinking the barns and cabins. Expanding our cabin and putting up fencing. After the supports are up on the green house and summer kitchen we will start cutting trees for fencing. That will be a whole summer project. We are still planting weekly to extend the growing season but will need to take stock of what we plant after the first of June we really don't want anything that will need a 90+days to go in after the 10th. We are not sure when the first frost is around here so so we need plant like we have a short growing season this year. We still need to work on a spring house and a root cellar. We will need the spring house rather quickly as the days are getting longer and warmer. Milk is not keeping as long. The guys stopped early enough to go hunting today. One of the guys took down a deer and they come back with a few pheasants. The deer will feed all of us for a couple of days. It wasn't a large buck he was just getting his antlers. What is not eaten I will can up or make jerky out of. The pheasants are dinner tonight. A and I cooked the pheasants on the spit while everyone else cleaned up. After the pheasants were done the kids decided to head home since it was getting dark and there were still chores to do so I sent two birds with them. I opened a jar of green beans and a jar of new potatoes and made biscuits. SF was a happy camper. While I cleaned the kitchen he sat outside and smoked his pipe. When I joined him he said that he had to build him a smoking shack since I still won't let him smoke in the house. We're stopping work tomorrow at lunch for the day. SF and I plan on exploring more of the property and having some alone time. We have been so wrapped up in getting settled we really haven't have time to ourselves. So we are having a date tomorrow. We are saddling up the horses and riding around to see what we find. We may ride over and check on the Q's and see if they are going into town for church meeting. I can't wait to see everyone. SF said we would take Chef another bucket of bee comb. I wonder if mother and Mt. Rider have been back to the lodge to get their honey comb yet?

You can also stir pecans in this and have something like a praline.

May 20 OMG there is not a spot on me that doesn't hurt. I think if I see one more block of sod or one more vine I will scream. However, the barn is up. I have heard about barn raising and how they do in one day well we did it. The barn is up. We were up early this morning as the sun come over the mountain the first log was put in place. The guys got into a pattern and moved right along. Two were doing tongue and groove cuts and two were laying logs. When those that were laying logs got ahead they would stop and cut tongue and gooves also. A & I loaded the wagon and hauled sod for the roof we also wove some of the vines cut off the rock face out back to help support the roof. By sun down the barn was declared done. The only thing it was't chinked but that can be done this summer. The important thing is there is some were safe and dry we can put the animals It is just a log building done tongue and groove style. It is not large barn It is only 20ft x 30 ft. But seeing as we will only have 2 horses 3 goats and 3 pigs it is sufficient. It has a total of 6 stalls 3 on each side. In one corner we have a tack/tool room. In the other corner I have a milking area, this area will also be used when we file and trim the horses hooves. The horses stalls open into a corral on one side which will open in pasture land once the fencing is up. The goat stalls will open into a fenced area that will butt up against the wall of rock out back so they can have lots of brush to nibble on. The pigs stalls will just open into the barn yard. They will not be allowed to wander until the fencing is up then they will be allowed to graze in the pasture. The goats will share a stall and sows will share a stall and the hog will have his own stall. That will leave us one stall to seperate out sick animals or use as a birthing stall. On the back of the barn we extened the room and made a lean-to to store the wagon so that it is out of the elements. It was determined that there were enough logs left to build P & N each a cabin. Their cabins will only 15x 20 cabins with sleeping lofts and one wall will be rock with a fire place. They plan on building a lean-to to house their animals. It will be basically a 10x10 one stall building. So tomorrow the logs will cut with tongue and groove and hauled to each of the guys home site. There is still some sod but it is believed that we will need more. After the kids loaded up and headed home SF and I went drew up plans for the green house and a summer kitchen both will be built in a round gazebo style. The summer kitchen will be built on the northside of the house and green house on the south side of the house. Both will be attached to a large back porch. The summer kitchen will be used almost immediately. The green house will be built but it will take time to get it to the point that is will be sustainable. That will be a long drawn out process. As SF and I settled in bed he said "you realize that once the boys get their cabins up our family will be offically settled in the valley." Humm settled in our new home. I for one and ready for things to settled down and get into a regular routine. Oh there will still be little things to do but we will all have a place. Like chinking and the hot spring dug out and made into something usuable. We have to figure out some way pump water in the house. The spring is not to far from cabin but I do not relish the idea of hauling water when there is 5 feet of snow on the ground.

Like Mother there are things I have been so tempted to say that "Oh look what I found" Other than the obvious - more dry food Some things I wish I had researched and prepared for... pumping water roofing wire - barb wire, hog wire etc for fencing - I did pack chicken wire but no where near enough Screen wire not only for doors and windows but drying racks also - I thought about that for windows but will need it for drying food. DUCT TAPE - n'uf said more hand tools - files, more and better saws, So what are some of the things you forget and left behind

Journal Entry for May 19 Well I had a change of plans this morning. I decided that I would visit the Q’s and take them the milk goat. I had ulterior motives…I wanted a salad and the only wild green I knew that was safe to eat dandelion. So I rode down to W&A’s with SF and then I had P saddle up Molly girl for me while I went in search of Marilyn. Marilyn wasn’t too happy that I put a rope around her neck she has gotten use to being able to run free now. Silly goat she is trying to eat the rope. Stop that and come on Marilyn we are going to Q you will like her. So I left the men folk on the roof of the barn and A doing laundry and I rode out tugging Marilyn. It was still early and the valley was so peaceful as I road long. Marilyn finally said enough and plopped down I guess she decided Molly girl was going to fast for her. I am so glad no one was out and about watching me. I picked Marilyn up and laid her across Molly girl, well Molly girl wasn’t too sure she liked that so she started dancing around because Marilyn was kicking up a fuss and here I was trying to remount the dang horse. I had one foot in the stirrup and hopping on the foot. Finally I said enough and yelled at Marilyn to hush and for Molly to be still. I think it stunned them that I yelled at them but it was just long enough for me to get back in the saddle and off we went; Marilyn crying the whole way. I finally was able to get her up across my legs and in my arms so I could rub her ears, she liked that and finally quieted down. I was beginning to think I went the wrong way when I finally saw the Q’s place. I didn’t see anyone outside in the yard but that their wagon was there so I knew they couldn’t be far. So I started hollering….”HELLO IN THE HOUSE” (my country roots were showing but I didn’t want to get shot) No answer huh. Well I wiggled and got off Molly and got Marilyn down before she pitched a fit. I saw where Q had the oxen grazing so I tethered Marilyn close by so she could get to the underbrush. I pulled out a piece of paper and pen out of the saddle bag and was writing a note when Mr. & Mrs. Q came in sight. It seemed they had been exploring. After Q nearly squz the stuffing out of (ok so I was squzzing her too) I explained why I was there. She laughed because she had picked wild greens this morning also. She gave me a leaf of each and told me these were all edible. I wrote down all the names and tried to draw pictures of the leaves. (we will leave my drawing skills of this) She tried to refuse the goat saying they had one at the lodge and her teaching me about edible herbs would be no where near enough. I laughed and told her this was just the beginning. I need to know everything there was like what to do with roots, how to make medicine and the teas. What to use them for etc. And since I had no clue about anything the goat would not be near enough payment. I don’t think she was convinced but she will soon learn just how illiterate I am when it comes to herbs. I took her over and introduced Marilyn to her and they took to one another right away. Q figured out real quick that Marilyn like to have her head rubbed and ears scratched. I told Q that we did milk her this morning but I couldn’t bring the milk and the goat on the horse. She said that was fine they still had some milk left from what I sent her the other day. Q asked when was the last time she was bred and I told her that her kid was about 12 weeks old now and she should be coming into season soon. She asked if I had a buck she could breed her with and I told her yes that Marilyn and my buck where from two different stock and I had used him to breed her last time she produced a good off spring. She told me about one of the caves they found and how they were going to use it for storage. She asked if we had found caves yet and I told her we hadn’t really explored liked that. I did tell her about the fruit and nut trees I found and the maple trees and all the berry bushes. I told her about the bee hive in which she thanked me again for the honeycomb. I told her about the look on Chef’s face when I gave him a 3 gallon bucket. We laughed when I tried to make the same face. She agreed that they honey will help stretch the sugar that was still available. She showed me around their place and pointed out the loose stones on the fire place. I told her it maybe a hidden button that opened up the wall into a secret room...well at least that is what they did in the movies. I am a big mystery novel fan. She laughed at me I said well it could happen maybe it was some famous outlaws hide out and those were his bones that her dogs drug up. I was the one laughing now. As we walked outside I asked if they needed the boys anymore and Mr. Q said he probably could use them a couple of more days but he hated to keep taking them away because he knew we needed them to help us also. I told him that I would split them with him. I would send one of them back to help cut trees so they would have enough to build their barn and then one could help their dad do the same. Mr. Q agreed that might work. He asked how things were going. I told him that W&A almost had the barn back in shape they had planted their garden and were working on the barn. He asked about the house and I told him they had made it livable but it still needed a lot of work but they were putting that off until later in the summer when the garden didn’t need them as much and the barn was finished. I told them that we were leaving the large animals down with them that W&A land was flat and the barn was large enough for the animals. Plus they were in better health to take care of the animals than we were. I asked if they were going to the church service Sunday at the Lodge and Mrs.Q said they were going to try to be there. I told her it sure is lonely now that we are all going our separate ways and she agreed. I said I needed to head on I still had a lot of planting to do. And I wanted to get it done before the next rain come through. I told Mr. Q to look for one of the boys tomorrow that they should be finished with the barn roof today. Q and I hugged and promised not to be strangers. As I mounted up and headed back I couldn’t help but wonder if we had caves also. That would be our solution to a root cellar for now. I will have to talk to SF about it maybe we will find a couple on our place too. Molly was in a hurry to get back she did not like being away from the other horses so we were back in the yard before I knew it I think she was upset with me because I let Marilyn ride on her instead of walking. LOL SF and the boys were just coming down off the roof for lunch when I arrived. They were surprised to see me back so soon. I told them I hadn’t gone over there to stay the whole day but that I just went to get some information. They just shook their heads and said yeah right. So being the lady that I am I stuck my tongue out at them and stomped off to the house leaving them laughing. A had fixed chicken pot pie for lunch and cobbler. I knew she had been working on the cobbler before I left but I was surprised to see the pot pie. She still is not comfortable cooking so she tends to make one pan dishes or simple meals. I tasted the pot pie and told her it was delicious. I told her the true test was how much leftovers there were. As the guys filed through fixing their plates she watched and waited. They all went back for seconds. After they left I peaked around the corner as she went to see how much was left. Her face just glowed. She picked the pan up and turned to show me as I stepped into the house. I said see I told you it was delicious, we both just laughed. I hugged her and told her I was headed back up to plant some more and she said she was headed out to do the same. She is following my lead and we are planting some things in sets of 12 about a week apart. We are trying to have a garden as long as possible and we don’t want everything coming in at one time. Molly was still saddled from earlier so I rode her up to the cabin. Boss greeted me he hates being left behind now. I unsaddled Molly and tossed the saddle in the wagon and brushed her down. I lead her over to the pond and let her graze while By the time SF, P & N rode up I had finished planting and had started dinner. I took a page from Q’s book and made pizza tonight. We were all getting tired of food. We had been eating the same thing for a while and pizza sounded wonderful especially since I found the canned cheese. I had put some dried veggies on to soak this morning so we could have veggie pizza I also had pepperoni so the boys would be happy. I had also made sun tea and sweeten it with honey. I had put it in the spring earlier so it would chill so I sent P down to get it while everyone washed up. Over dinner I mentioned P & N that Mr. Q needed one of them to come over and help him tomorrow and that their dad needed one of the to help him cut some trees. They asked how much was left and SF told them that W&A would be able to handle the rest of their repairs by themselves but we still had to get a barn built and soon. That is what the trees were for and he wanted to cut enough for a smoke house and timbers for supports for a root cellar. Root cellar duh – I then remembered to tell them about the caves that the Q’s found. SF said it was a real possibility. He said if it was not raining Saturday that it would be our day to explore so more. The boys asked what my plans were tomorrow and I told them while SF was cutting trees I was going to tackle the ivy out back and get the back of the house ready to expand. N said he would ride over in the morning and help Mr. Q. While I cleaned up from dinner SF got the guys help him move the heavy stuff in the cabin. I kept hearing them talk in whispers but I could not figure out what was going one. The guys come out and told me bye P said he would be here after chores in the morning. I poured out the dish water just as it started sprinkling. I headed to the tent but SF stopped me he said he had a surprise for me. I noticed he had showered. They had sat the tub up on the back porch again filled it with hot water. They were sneaky and started another fire around back and used the water out of the rain barrels. As I sank down in the warm water he warned me not to go to sleep. Next thing I know he is standing there with a bath sheet waiting on me to get out. I yawned and stretched, the water was cooling rather quickly so I climbed out of the tub. SF wrapped me in the bath sheet and picked me up. He said he was carrying his bride of the threshold. As he carried me through to the bedroom I was surprised to see just how much he and the boys had accomplished. All the larger pieces of furniture were in the cabin and arranged the rugs had been rolled out and he had made the bed. Life was good...

Journal Entry for May 17 & 18. We woke to rain and I was not thrilled about traveling in the rain but thrilled it was raining since much of the garden had been planted. I got up and dressed then rushed out side to set my starter trays out in the rain. I wanted the young plants to harden off. I set them under the tree so they would not be beaten down but would get a gentle watering from the rain as it rolled off the leaves. When we left it was still dark out side; we arrived before what should have been sunup at W&A’s place but they were already up. We helped with the milking but knew since we would be traveling we would not be able to use it all. I did put some in the bucket and hang it on the side of wagon so that we would have butter. Between the cow and the goat we had way too much milk. P&N were still there so I sent the honey and the extra milk with them to the Q’s I am sure they could use it. As a matter of fact I don’t think they have any milking animals. Hummm note to self check on that. A had boiled some eggs for us to eat on the way for breakfast and toasted some left over biscuits. I had brought the leftovers from yesterday for lunch. N said he was going to ride back late this evening to check on the animals and stay at the homestead tonight so he could be there for milking in the morning. I told him to go ahead and take tomorrows milk to the Q’s again since we would not be getting in till late. As we rode along I couldn’t help but think about the letter I had written last night to my sister. I so wish they had joined us but I knew there was no way mother could have made the trip. But I know they have a safe place to go I just hope her and her family make there. Maybe they will be able to join us before it is too late. Dear Sister, We have arrived in the land of milk and honey. It is beautiful here. We made the trip with only a couple of mishaps but we have arrived safe and sound. We were delayed when P dislocated his shoulder and broke his leg. You probably saw it on the news…those crazy people in the wagon train had a stampede yeah well that was us. The *&%$ mayor and his helicopter is the one that cause the stampede. But enough on that every time I think about it my blood pressure goes up. Our other delay was we were got in a blinding snow storm just as we entered the mountain range. I don’t think I have thawed out yet. Although I will have to say once the snow got high enough to block the wind it was rather warm. But then we had chin hook winds and it melted almost as fast as it fell. Yeah well we did have the flash flood with the melt down but we were able to get to high ground only a couple of wagons got stuck. I only experienced vertigo one time and that was the morning I looked out over the valley for the first time. I almost passed out. I could not watch when they started to take the wagons down the first part of the descent into the valley. We had to lock the wheels and use a pulley system to get to the next Plato After that it wasn’t too bad going down hill it was like Woodruff Mill Hill there by where you are; so if you can imagine that in a wagon then you know what we faced. On our land we have mountains, streams, and a pond. W&A are right on the river. P and N are in the valley between W&A and us. P and N have planted 39 ½ acres in corn and wheat. They left a half acre so they can build their house. Neither of them is sure what kind of house they are going to build yet. N is interested in an adobe house but P likes the sod house. Our little cabin is about half the size of your half basement but it is enough for us for now. We are going to expand the back of the cabin so that we can have a panty and more room in the kitchen. Right now the cook stove takes up the whole entire kitchen. It will take some planning because we are like 6-7 feet away from a solid wall of rock and SF wants to make that the back wall of the kitchen. We have to clean it off it is covered in ivy. We miss you guys, hope and pray you are safe. Remember keep that information safe that we gave you before we left. I don’t know how much longer it will be available. Like there things are getting rough along the way. None of the last order I placed made it. We got word that the delivery was attempted several times but each time the truck was hijacked. So we are eating a lot of sour dough bread I am trying to save my yeast. As for sugar we have found a beehive so I will be using a lot of honey. We found a stand of about a dozen maple trees on the western side of our property so we will have fresh maple syrup. I wish I had some way to send you pictures. The view from our front porch is breath taking. There is a small natural spring about 10 yards from the front door and you can hear it bubbling. It is just so peaceful. We are all hoping and praying that the world doesn’t make it into the valley. The only safe way in is the way we came in and after Mr. S’s family gets here I think they may close it all together, we will see. We have not set up the solar charger yet to charge the cell phones but I don’t think we will have service here. I haven’t seen any towers since the last ranch before we hit the wilderness. But I will try it in a few weeks. You can leave messages there it is pre-paid and it is good for a year. I made sure I paid the yearly fee the last time I saw a cell tower which was about 4 weeks ago and I put 400 minutes on it so voice mail should be good for a while. I must close and get this letter ready to go. I hope it will find its way to you. I am using mother’s address as the return address; hopefully you will get it one way or the other. Hugs and kisses to all Love you much S As we rode in to the yard at the lodge most everyone that was there for the service was gone. We did see a few from the benefactor group. We saw Missy and her family and they inquired as to how P was doing. I told them he was just fine it was like the leg was never injured we laughed when Missy’s mom said the same thing about her. They had just gotten the deed to their land and were headed out. They told us they were across the across the river. I told them we would have to ride across and find them. We explained where we were and they said they had seen W&A place when they were searching from where they were. We hugged and the men shook hands then they were off. We was sad to see them ride off we had gotten so close to them when we stayed behind after the accident. I went in the lodge and found Chef and gave him his surprise. You would have thought I gave the man a side of Grade A beef the way he acted. He couldn’t believe he had a 3 gallon bucket of bee honeycomb. He grinned and asked would this be a weekly treat. I laughed and told him not to get his hopes up. He hugged and thanked me again. I told him I was sure that our hive was not the only hive maybe someone else would find one also. He said he hoped so, but he would take what he could get since the honey that was in this would be enough to make the sugar he had last an extra month. SF told him there would be more we just didn’t want to strip the whole hive at one time. Maybe when we came back in a couple of weeks we could bring more. I asked him if he had another bucket and he said yes. He brought me 4- 5 gallon buckets. I looked at him kind of strange when he handed me 5 gallon buckets Chef grinned and said that was the only empty size he had, we all laughed and he said we didn’t have to fill the bucket up. Sf took them and put them in the wagon as he was headed out to see who else was here. I asked Chef if Mother and Mt.Rider where still around and he said Mother and her group had already left and he thought maybe Mt.Rider had also but that I could check at the clinic that they would know if Mr. or Mrs. Mt. Rider was still here. On my way to the clinic I saw Mr. S and spoke to him. He said that he could give us directions to Mother and Mt. Rider if we want to ride out and see them. I thanked him but would have to decline this time. With it still raining I did not want to be out looking for a needle in the hay stack so to speak. He laughed and said he totally understood. He did say we all had mail boxes in the back of the lodge that I could leave them notes. So I turned to head back to the lodge to leave them notes and their surprise. I told him I had a letter I would like to post also and gave it to him. He said that it looked like they would be one mail run this month. It seems like a lot of people had written to family back home to let them know we had arrived. He did say he made no promises about the letter getting through he then looked at me funny when he saw the address and return address. I told him I did not know what address to put down as a return so if it was returned anywhere it could be returned to my mother since that is the where we had our mail forwarded when we left. I told him my sister lived next door and they should get it one way or the other. Mr S. asked if we needed to stay in the lodge tonight and I told him know that we had come prepared to sleep in the wagon and that we would be headed out at first light tomorrow. SF walked up then and Mr. S asked how long it took us to get here. SF told him in the wagon with it raining it took about 5 hours last time it only took about 3 ½ and on horse back it takes about half that. Mr. S said he was concerned since everyone was spreading out how long it would take us to get back to the lodge if there was an emergency. SF told him if we rode hard we could be here in about an hour but that would be pushing the horses. Mr. S told us that he thought we were the furthest ones out but we didn’t have the river to cross. He said that he would not be at the lodge tonight that he was headed out himself so we said our good-byes for now and said we would see each other in a few weeks. On the way in the door I noticed the community bulletin board and there was a note there from Q about trading for a milk goat. I took it down stuck it in my pocket. I knew with the milk cow we had now we could spare a milk goat especially if Babydoll had twins like we were expecting and our other female goat that we left here with Mother’s buck to bred took we would have more than enough goats this first year. I also saw a note for donkeys for trade. Some one was looking for oxen. I will have to tell SF and the guys about that. They were talking yesterday about how they wished we had brought donkeys with us. I just won’t let them trade Raja and Buttercup, they can trade the other two. I wonder if someone has horses to trade I don’t see any notes here. Even if they did I am not sure what we could trade this year. Maybe next year we would have a yearling or a calf or two to trade. We would just have to make do with the 4 draft horses we had and if we got the donkeys they could be ridden also. Each of us does have a bike that we brought with us. Thank goodness 4 of the 6 bikes are mountain bikes. Mine and A’s are the old fashion one sped bike with the basket on the front but hey it will get us around LOL. I left the community board and headed to the mail boxes with everyone’s tub of honeycomb I wish I was here to see their faces when they opened them. There was another small package there with a note saying it had been stuck to someone else’s package by mistake. Seeing where it was from I knew it was more seeds. Still not the package I was hoping for. Chef was ringing the dinner bell and told us that we were more than welcome to join them. I thanked him and headed to find my family. SF, W & A were coming out of the library with a stack of books. SF had one on bee keeping, W had one on spring houses and he also picked up a couple on sod and adobe houses for P & N. A had found a high altitude cook book for us to look over. When we entered the dinning hall we really didn’t know anyone, mostly it was the single men that had been hired to act as security or as hire hands so we ate and headed back to wagon for the night. We were all tired and we wanted to leave early in the morning. I stopped and spoke to chef and asked him would it be possible to get some biscuits or something for the ride out and he assured me that he would have us something ready in the morning. He asked if I had a basket or something and I told him I did that I would bring it back in to him. After dropping off the basket we fed the horses and headed to bed. It was still light so we sat outside the wagon and read for awhile. The sun sure goes down fast here. Once it gets over the mountain ridge it is dark like someone turned a light out. So we crawled in to bed and laid there talking about what all still had to be done. There were still quite a few garden beds to plant but they were short season vegetables and would come in about 45 days and late season vegetables like turnip greens and cabbage. As the yard quieted down for the night I was still awake I couldn’t help but wonder how Mother and her family, Mr. and Mrs. Mt. Rider, Anarchy, Michael and Lori and the others were doing. Had they all found places, did they need help getting their gardens in? We really needed to come on Sunday for services to see everyone. I think I will ask Chef in the morning if services were every week or every other week. Good grief how many roosters are there around here? I think maybe some of them needed to end up in the pot. We were all up and dressed before the roosters stopped crowing. SF and W were hitching the animals A was rolling up the sleeping bags and making our bed in to a couch for us to sit on again and I went to fetch the basket. Chef was up and coffee made so I filled SF & W’s thermos mugs with coffee and mind & A’s with hot chocolate. Chef had our basket ready to go and said we had a surprise in there as a thank you for the honey. I remembered to ask about the worship services and he said right now they were weekly I thanked him and headed out. Everyone was loaded and waiting on me, I handed A the basket and climbed up the step latter that SF had left down for me and we were off. As we pulled the sun was coming over the peaks. There were still traces of clouds so there were lots of pinks, and purples and red. It was beautiful. Chef had supplied us with biscuits and jerky along with hot cinnamon rolls. They were huge the size of saucers. They had glaze on them and everything. They were delicious. SF said we needed to take him a 5 gallon bucket full of honey next time. LOL As we trotted along I mentioned to SF about the note I saw on the board where someone wanted to trade donkeys for oxen. He laughed and said oh you mean this note? The sneak had taken the note down. He told me the guy was one of the single guys. He and his brother had hired own to work security but they also got 40 acres and like P&N they are planting most of their land in grain for trade. They had brought donkeys and horses but they decided that they liked working with oxen better than the donkeys. He said they were to ride out to W&A’s tomorrow and look at the oxen. I told SF that I wanted to keep Raja and Maybell. W started laughing and I asked what was so funny. W said that dad had told the guy that you would not part with Raja and Maybell that it would be the other two. SF said that the guy remembered Raja from the ranch since Raja was the only oxen around that had a bull ring. W said that the donkeys were used to being ridden also. Well okie dokie then I guess we are getting donkeys. When we stopped for lunch I also mentioned Q’s note about the milk goat. SF said that they were my goats and if I wanted to trade I was welcome to trade. He did point out that he didn’t think the Q’s had anything we needed I told him have no fear that Mrs. Q had something I wanted. He looked at me kind of funny and asked what was that I smiled and said knowledge. Talk about a perplexed look but SF’s face was perplexed. I couldn’t help but laugh. I told him that I had no knowledge of wild plants and herbs well I had very limited knowledge so if Mrs. Q was willing to teach me then her payment would be a goat. Sf hugged me and said he thought I was making a very wise trade. The return trip didn’t take as long since it was not raining and the ground wasn’t squishy. When we arrived back at W&A’s to drop them off we noticed that her herb garden was starting to sprout. She was thrilled. Before we left W said that there were some boxes that were P&N’s wagon that were ours. So SF pulled up close to the barn and helped W loaded them. There were about a dozen boxes and for the life of me I could not remember what was in them. W asked his dad if he was coming down tomorrow to help with the roofing of the barn and SF told him yeah he would be down. A asked if I was coming and I told her no that I was going to finish planting the gardens. That I still had about 6 crop circles to get planted. Plus I wanted to start getting the cabin organized so that we could move in. We hugged and said our goodbyes. Boss was so happy to see us when we got home. He had a gift for us a rabbit but I dare say that it would be his treat. I think he played with it a little too much for me to be able to cook it. But that did give SF an idea he said he would take his rifle and see if he could get some small game for us for dinner. So we hurriedly empty the wagon and then he and boss were off to get dinner. I went in search for something to open the crates with and found my hammer. I had a wonderful surprise when I opened them, most of the crates had my dried food (well at least I will have dry beans to grind into flour) and canning supplies that I had totally forgotten about. Another had more material but this was for quilts and curtains, another had smaller boxes that contained sewing supplies like buttons, zippers, craft supplies and my scrap book supplies and the last small box pictures and other pretties for the cabin. There were still sever crates to open but by the weight of them I was pretty sure they were books. The crates will get repurposed, some will be hung on the walls as cabinets, others will be taken apart and reconstructed into bookshelves and a couple will become beside tables. But for now they will be stacked in the corner I am going to start working on our bedroom and get the bed together then I will decided how I want the main room to look. Not much will go in here until we get that back wall moved but at least we can set the table and chairs in here along with the furniture we brought with us. I moved as much as I could but I just couldn’t get the table in by myself wonder woman I am not. I had even hung curtains and some pictures on the walls. It was being to look like a home. I heard Boss yelping and knew he and SF were back. SF had bagged a couple of rabbits and was cleaning them when I joined him outside. I was never really good at cleaning small game. So I watched SF had set up the work table as I call it. It is a folding table that we brought with it and it has one of those hard plastic one piece tops. He uses this to clean fish on also; it is not very big and is only used for cleaning wild game. First he bleached the table then went to the natural spring and got two buckets of fresh clean water. Then he got out his sharp knife that I am not allowed to touch (I am famous for dulling knives lol) and pulled out his thick rubber gloves that he wears when cleaning game. Next he removed the head and feet at the ankles. Carefully he then lifted the skin and cut it from top to bottom over the stomach and peeled it back like you would if you were taking off a coat. He was careful not to cut into the meat or get the fur on the meat. Next he cut the carcass from top to bottom along the rib cage so that he could remove the entrails. He told that if I ever did this to be very careful not to puncture the internal organs or it would ruin the meat. He then washed the meat in the cool water the placed it in the other bucket to cool down. He said if we had access to ice he would ice it down but for now the cool spring water would be enough to cool the meat down and since we were going to cook it tonight that it would be ok. As SF cleaned up the rabbit mess I set about setting up the spit we were going to have roasted rabbit. I also found a jar of little red potatoes. How I wish we had some fresh squash to grill to oh well soon enough. For desert we will split the cinnamon roll that was left. While we were eating SF said he saw a several doves but he was pretty sure they had nest since they were staying close to the bushes. He said the ducks were still at the pond and he also so some small game hen that was about the size of a Cornish hen. Humm wonder what that could be. Sf was quite impressed by what I had accomplished while he was gone. He said tomorrow he would get one of the boys to ride back with him and get the mattress off the wagon. So another night or two and we will be sleeping in our bed again. He was also telling me that W had made great progress on the stable and fencing that he and A had been working hard. But they had really not started on the house. They were waiting until the gardening was done and since he had most of animals he wanted to make sure they were dry. Talk turned to where we would build our barn and the ideas he had for it. He also asked which animals I had planned on bring up. I told him probably just the pigs, goats and two horses for now that we really didn’t have the grazing land for the larger animals nor did we need them. I told him I would like to have sheep but the beef cattle were more for the boys than us. I told him I was happy with goat’s milk and if I wanted cow’s milk that I didn’t think A would complain. To which he agreed. He told me once the W’s barn roof was finished then they would start on our barn. I asked him to take the horses back down tomorrow that I felt in my bones that it was going to rain again this week. He asked how he was supposed to get home I reminded him of the bikes and he had said that one of the boys would be coming back to help move the mattress. I told him it was just until we got cover. Whether he wanted to admit it or not he loved Mister and enjoyed riding him. Mister like him too and did as SF commanded. SF took my hand then and led me to the tent. He said I was starting to nod off and he was probably right. It had been a long two days. Tomorrow I should ride over and see Q….

Journal entry for May 16 We slept late Sunday morning. We all had breakfast together. A brought eggs and fresh milk. I pulled out a loaf of bread I made that did turn out so great. Haven't gotten the technique down pat yet for cooking at high altitudes. I know I don't need as much baking powder and baking soda but I just haven't worked it out yet. But any way the bread was eatable but it wasn't the best so I made French toast out of it. I was selfish with the syrup though. Both A and I had set some fruit to soak last night so the guys were happy to have the fruit with their toast. After breakfast Sf pulled out the bible and read the passage where the Children of Israel first saw the promised land. He said this would be our promised land. The life we knew has come to a close and now we have started a new chapter in our lives. Tears were shed and songs of praise were song. We went to each of the 6 plots of land and had a special prayer and prayed that God would bless this land and that we would always remember whence it came. After the dedicate service we returned to our cabin and pulled out the horseshoes, lawn darts and other games that we brought. We even pulled out the volley ball get and strung it up between to trees. Before breakfast I took the peaches that I had soaked overnight and made peach cobbler. I had put it in a dutch oven and buried it in the hot coals. I had saved one of the hams we found at the homestead during the snow storm. It was small and would only feed us for one meal and I felt this was the meal. We pulled out the bread I had cooked this morning, it seems to have turned out lighter than the last batch I think I am getting the hang of this lol as I sliced the ham A sliced the bread we were going to make ham sandwiches for a picnic down around the stream. We wrapped the sandwiches in napkin and placed them in a basket for later. SF and I left the kids playing and went for a stroll down by the stream. There we saw bees all over the wild flowers that had opened up. Bees? Sf said they looked like honey bees. We started following them and if have ever followed bees you would know that is not an easy task. But they were headed back towards the cabin. There was a steady stream of them bees everywhere. But it wasn't the cabin they were going to it was the old smoke house. To date neither of us had been in the smoke house. We had chalked it up to a summer project we had looked at it from a distance but had not inspected it. So we were quite surprised and pleased to learn that the bees had made it their home. SF carefully open the door as not to disturb them. The whole inside of the smoke house was one big honey comb. We decided right then that we would not touch the “bee house” but would add supports to it and leave it be. SF closed the door and we headed back to the stream I asked him would it be possible to smoke them out long enough to get some honey comb? I told him I would like to take some to Mother, Mt.Rider, Q and Chef. He said he and the boys would work on that this afternoon after everyone had a chance to relax and play. By the time we got back to the stream the kids had arrived with their fishing poles, picnic basket and the intertube we used back home at the lake. N said it took about 20 mins to pump it up using the hand pump. I asked if he did it all. He said no they had taken turns, he said that A had started it and they had all helped. I saw that P&W had brought all the lawn chairs with them. SF& I took the loungers and sat on the banks watching the kids frolicking in the water. A joined us later. She said the water was still too cold for her. She took a blanket and moved over in the sun and lay down to warm up. After a few minutes all the boys where out of water seeking the warmth of the sun. They had joined A on the blankets and were munching away on their sandwiches. I had splurged and made a gallon of kool-aid lemon ade for today using some of my precious sugar supply. But now that we had found the bees that was a worry that wasn't on top of the list. As we sat there never in a million years would I have thought we would be there. Even in all of this beauty and peace my heart was heavy. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like back home. How our families were handling the collapse around them. I had hoped that they would join us but they were skeptical about this trip. With Mr. S and Mr. H permission I did give them contacts in case they decided to join us later. I hope will join us later but I fear that it is no longer safe for them to stay or to go. I can only put them in God's hands and hope for the best. Well the sun was moving on over in the sky so SF gathered the boys up to help him smoke the bees out of the bee house they decided they would use the ash bucket that we found in the cabin and build a fire in it using green leaves and twigs so that it smoke good. I went to hunt up containers. I found old 3 pound margarine tubs that I had brought with us. I also found a 3 gallon icing bucket. It was decided that we would take the 3 gallon bucket to Chef since he was still cooking for a crowd and we would take the 3 pound tubs to the others. We are not going to harvest the honey we are just taking comb and everything and they can do with it what they wish. SF took an old t-shirt and soaked in some of the lard we cooked fish in last night laid it in the bottom of the ash bucket and lit it. It caught right away and smoked him then added the green leaves and twigs that they had gathered and it really started smoking. He stood over the bucket and got the smoke in his clothes and then he opened the door to the bee house and set the bucket inside. We watch as the bees made haste to leave. After a few minutes SF checked and the bees were gone and we gathered our supplies and stood outside while he went in since he clothes had the smell and ours didn't he cut chunks of the comb and was surprised to find just how much was in there. The bees had been there a while. The comb covered 3 walls. We stuffed the tubs and the bucket as full as we could get them. We even had a 5 gallon bucket for us. This building is 4ft x 3ft and it is about 6.6 ft tall. So it is not a large building. SF started in one corner and only removed a section that was 2ft x2ft section. I think this is the best find yet. I will be able to cook with this and I can't wait to make sun tea using the honey. I can taste it now...fresh berries with cream and a twirl of honey....heaven. As we left the bees were starting to come back so we closed the door and left them in peace. Yes I see right now that the smoke house will stay just like it is. Once we were back at the cabin it was decided that we would go ahead and scrub the cabin and get the cook stove off the wagon since everyone was there and it would take all of us to move it. So I dispatched P&W with brooms while N headed down to the pond to get a couple buckets of water. I went to the wagon and dug around for cleaning supplies. They boys had the rodent nests out and SF lit a fire in the fireplace to make sure that it was clear. We had brought a couple of the chimney cleaning clogs with us and he was using it. He went out side to check it and it was clear the smoke was going up the chimney instead of back up in to the cabin so we knew it was clear. He said after the log burned and chimney cooled he would cover the chimney to keep it clear since we would not be using it any time soon. N was back with the water so we set about scrubbing walls, ceiling and floors. After about an hour I think the place gleamed. We had opened the doors and windows so the breeze would help dry it. The ground was dry around the cabin so I wasn't too worried about mud being tracked in. So SF hitched up the horses and moved the wagon so that it was close to the door. He pulled the back gate off and we set up the ramp that we had used to load the wagons. The boys got in the wagon and with a lot of muscle had the cook stove lined up ready to slide down the ramp. They put ropes around it to help guide it down the ramp and to keep it from squishing the ones on the ground. So W&N got in front of it and acted as the brake for the stove. P & SF got the ropes and were using the wagon seat as a leverage to hold it back. A& I were to push. They had set stove so it would not take much to push it down the ramp. So with a quick prayer and a shove the stove was on it way down the ramp. It went smoother than I had thought but a short lived victory. It was bigger than the door but only by inches. Sf said if we removed one side of the door jam then it would go through with no problem. So they sat about undoing SF's hard work from this past week. It didn't take long to get the door jam off and then they laid some small limbs down and used them to roll the stove through the door and to the back wall of the cabin. As the boys got the stove set and level SF put the door jam back. With the stove off the wagon we set about bringing the food and household items. I divided the food with W&A so they would have food. We went ahead and gave her the hope chest that the family had made for her before we left. All the aunts and grandmothers had pitched in and stocked her kitchen with non electric things like graters, whisk, beaters, grain mill, and cook books. There were also towels and sheets. Plus a quilt that was made just for them. She had no idea that this had been done. This was in the wagon that P&N had driven here so she didn't even know anything about it. W said they had planned on making it official this fall after all the harvest was in and things were settling down for the winter. But for now there were too much to do. I am not sure but I actually think they may already be married P thinks they went to the court house about a year ago and got married but don't want to tell us because they knew we would be disappointed. I am just pleased that he has some one. After both wagons were unloaded and W&A reloaded they headed home. P&N headed back with them they were going to feed the oxen tonight and load up so they could head over to the Q's tomorrow. I sent a tub of honeycomb with them to give to Q I knew they would be thrilled to get it. We decided that we would load the wagon tonight and get ready to head out early in the morning. A said she would have breakfast ready when we got there. I told her there was a little ham left so I would make sandwiches for the trip. There was some peach cobbler left also so I packed it to go. As SF went about gathering firewood and moving the chickens closer to the cabin for the night I went about planning my surprise for him. The boys had put the bath tub on the back porch and I decided since we needed fresh water I would use what was in the water barrel to heat for a bath. I knew SF had been suffering with sore muscles and could really use a nice long soak. I had found the Epsom salt early while unpacking so I added some to the water. As I saw him trudge back up the hill I knew he would be thrilled with his surprise and I was right. His eyes lit up when he saw the steaming tub. As he sank down in the hot steam water I saw the gleam in his eye and I knew that I was in trouble. I wasn't fast enough to get out of his reach and landed in his lap. The water did feel good. It had been a long time since we had a HOT bath as we sat there in the tub listening to the night sounds SF whispered in my ear that he was sure glad that I had insisted on the over sized tub. I smiled and slipped out of the tub in dripping clothes telling him to hurry. I left him a towel and gathered his dirty clothes and headed to the laundry barrels. I tossed his in then added my wet ones to the barrel and headed in the tent as goose bumps started to form on my skin. I quickly dried and crawled between the covers as SF joined me he said he could get use to this. I asked what the night time sound he said no the hot tub at the end of the day. I laughed and told him not to get his hopes up. As curled up next to SF's side I asked him did he think we had cheated P&N by bringing them with us with no one to share their lives with. He chuckled and said that if P or N showed any attention to the single girls in the camp that they would have wives before we knew it. He asked why I was in that big of hurry to give them their hope chest. I told him no and I told him that they didn't know about those chest. They thought they were mine. He smiled and assured me that they were young ladies already eying our boys. That he knew one already had eyes for P and he had noticed her but they knew that this was a make or break time so they were focused on what helping their family. I asked him if this young lady was old enough to get land. He said he thought so but her father had told him that she opted not to pick land just now that she wanted to wait until she married. SF would not tell me who the young lady was but that she was part of the benefactor group. I just smiled and snuggled closer I told him I guess next year we would see a year of weddings.

Journal Entry for week ending May 15 Well the doors and windows are repaired but the cabin still needs a major cleaning. We have been staying in the tent so we can get work done. The cabin can be worked on on a rainy day or after all the gardens are in. The garden spot is staked out. We have decided to put up a temporary fence and put the chickens and pigs out there to root and scratch so today we worked on that. We used the roll of construction fence that we got out of the garbage before we left. It was was several different pieces to we will have piece it. We are using cable ties from “MY” toolbox to attach it to the post. When I say my tool box that is what it is. Back home I had a tool box that the guys were not allowed to touch. It has a hammer that fits my hands, a heavy duty stapler, a wide arrange of screw drivers, pliers and tape, cable ties and anything else a girl might need to fix a cabinet door or glue a handle back on her favorite coffee cup. So when we loaded the wagon I packed my tool box also. I am sacrificing some of my cable ties to put up this fencing but it will help get my animals here. We are using the metal post that you can just pound in the ground. It is what we used for the dog fence back home but we pulled them up and brought them with us. I am doing circles because I want to do the 3 sisters garden. We figure a dozen or so circles should be enough to get us started. We went ahead and dug the mounds for the potatoes and got them in the ground. We have planted 3 kinds of potatoes. Red potatoes, regular “Irish” potatoes and sweet potatoes. We also did a couple of mounds for melons. The chickens and pigs are having a wonderful time out there scratching and rooting. By tomorrow I should have several garden spots ready for corn and peas. We will then pull the fence up and move it over about 10 feet and set it up again and the animals work their magic there. I got my blueberry bushes planted as well as the trees that we brought along. I don't know if they will make it they are only 3 feet tall. But I do have 2-3 of each kind. I have apple, plum, pear, cherry, fig, pecan and walnut trees. As well as blueberry bushes. I know I will get nothing from for several years but I wanted them in the ground so that we could work around them. The fruit and nut trees will take longer but they are here now. We did find what we think is a wild cherry tree and a couple of granny smith apple trees. We will see what we have this summer. I also have grape vines, muscadine and scuppernong vines but they will need trellises; that is a project for later. I am built a chicken tractor out of the wood from the lean-to. I built three triangles all the same size. I cut board using a hand saw and a miter box. I cut the boards with 90% angles using the wood glue that was in my tool box I glued them together and then I nailed the boards together. I even stapled them together on the flat side of the wood as an extra precaution. So now I have three triangles all the same size. I then found 2 boards all the same length and nailed them to the triangles with 3 ft between the triangles. I nailed one on the bottom right angle, and one to the bottom left angle. I then nailed to board on the top. I used boards about a foot longer on each end so that I would have “handles” to move the tractor with. I then cut 2 – 4 ft strips and built a door on the side so that I can get in and feed and water them. I put small hinges on it so I could lift it up. Now I picked one end to close in a 2 foot section and build nesting boxes. I put small wire almost like window screen over the floor of this section to keep digging predators out. The other section does not have wire so they can scratch. The back wall has a drop down door so that I can easily gather eggs. Now that construction is complete I pulled out my chicken wire stapled it on the sides then I cut a triangle section and covered the other end. These tractors are big enough for 4-5 grown chickens or 2 hens and chicks. I will be able to use them for breeding also. I will be able to put 4 hens and a rooster in one and then once they start sitting I can move the rooster to a new tractor. I do plan on building a regular chicken coop to use later but for now this will work. P&N will be headed back over to the Q's next week so they have worked hard to get large plots of land plowed and sowed with corn and wheat. We found a marshy section close to the river that would be great to grow rice. I have never grown rice so I have to find my notebook on planting rice. I don't know how well it will do here in the valley or how long it will need but I guess no harm in trying. A and I have both worked on our “kitchen” gardens. We both wanted herb gardens close to the kitchen a well as things like lettuce, and tomatoes. We have 25 tomato plants started and every 10 days we are starting 25 more. Same thing with egg plants, and pepper plants. I did find a place to plant garlic and I did find some wild garlic and wild onions starting to come back out. We found some shallow caves that really are not big enough for anything but to grow mushrooms in. The caves are about 6 feet tall and about 10 deep and they narrow as you head towards the back. It actually looks like there were boulders there at one time and they have broke off and roll down hill. We have been able to completely unload one wagon and we are now using it to haul stuff with. We have gather rocks to use in building raised beds in the green houses. We are also going to use the rocks to build a root cellar but that will be a month or so away, once the gardens are in we will start on the root cellars. Hubby also wants to use some of rocks to add on to the house. He wants to expand the cabin back towards the mountain and use the rocks to build the back wall and put the cook stove on that wall. Well I am rambling so back to what we have gotten done this week. W&A have been able to cut some sod for the roof of the house. Since the house is not that big it is only 3 rooms (2 bdrms and a great room) the sod will not be too heavy. W said he wants a complete sod roof it will help keep the place cook and he can use what roofing is on the cabin to replace the roof on the barn. W&A want to go back to the lodge this week so that they can look as some of the books in the library. He wants to know if he can build a sod smoke house. I told him I didn't know but I remember granny's (my great grandmother) place having a sod spring house. So he wants to research spring houses also. With some of the rocks we have hauled back I planted my strawberries in raised pyrimad bed down near the stream so that it would be easy to water them. I have 4 pyrmiads with 25 plants in each pyrimad. I hope that is enough, the boys love strawberries. I found my cane pole and some left over biscuits and snuck away (well I could be seen from the cabin) today. I went down to the little stream and went fishing. I caught a mess of brim with bread balls and my cane pole. So we will have fish tonight. I may even pull out the bucket of lard I have and make some hush puppies. I have grits and some cheese powder so I can make cheese grits and I put some dried grated apples on to soak this morning we can have apple sauce or fried pies. Wish we had potatoes for fries oh well maybe this fall. I left my stringer in the water and walk a good piece up the stream while sitting there I saw some fines that looked fimilar. And sure enough it is wild blackberries and the vines are loaded with blooms. Oh I can't wait. Blackberry cobbler, blackberry jam, oh yummmm. I noticed SF headed my way so I headed back to the edge of the stream to get my stringer of fish there was about 2 dozen brim there all about the size of small dinner plate or a large saucer. We also made time to check out the smoke house and it will need to be totally rebuilt. The fire pit is still in good shape but it looks like there was a rock slid that knocked it off its foundation and it can't be used like this. Maybe I will find some books on a smoke house also. Hummm I wonder if you can build a igloo shaped smoke house out of rock. I have plenty of rocks. Need to find my note book where I am making notes and add that to the list to check on. Well A and I did manage to get an inventory done on the food and I am not liking what I see. We used more on the trail than I had hoped. I have enough grains to get through for a while if we are careful. I am not too worried about the corn harvest I am more concerned about the wheat harvest. Since we have no real experience with wheat in large quantities. Now that we have stopped traveling and the days are longer the chickens are laying again so we are getting enough eggs for breakfast each day. The goats are still producing and one of the cows that SF traded for should be delivering here shortly and then we will have all the milk we can use. We are giving W&A one rooster and two of the hens. One of the hens has chicks so they will be able to build their stock and they will hopefully have some for meat later. For now I am leaving one milk goat with them and bringing one up here. We will also leave the large animals down there since they have the corral and the stable. We will bring two horses up here so we will have a way to pull the wagon. We have heard wild turkeys in the woods but have not seen any yet. There were ducks on the pond this morning I hope we can encourage them to stay. We think they have built nest in and around the bushes on the pond. SF just come by when I was working on the herb garden and told me that he thought I would be able to start on the green house after we get back from the lodge. W helped him to finish clearing the area and they have dug the footings. They have also cleared the land for the barn and dug the footings for it. But since there really was no trees there only bushes they will have to cut trees which they will probably work on Monday. Since tomorrow is Sunday we are taking a much needed rest. The guys have worked hard with no break for about two weeks now and it is beginning to tell on them. So after our family worship time tomorrow we are going to have a picnic down by the stream and fish. P and N are going to use the hand pump and air up the raft we brought with us. They have already said they are going to build canoes. They have brought books with them on how to build canoes. They hope to be able to sale or trade them. I don't know if it they will have church service tomorrow at the lodge but we have decided to have a special blessing service for our family we want to dedicate our lands to the Good Lord and pray for His blessings upon it. We wanted this to be the first thing we did but with me being sick that didn't happen. It is now sundown on Saturday evening. As I look out over what we have accomplished I couldn't be more proud of my family. They are so out of their element and I have asked them to step out of their comfort zone and give up what they knew to enter a world that they have never experienced. Oh sure they have done school projects and studied a life style like this but my boys are city boys they are all about electronics and buying food at the local grocery store. They humored me when I had my container garden and my square foot garden. They were my slaveboy labor and hauled stuff for me but they didn't plant, weed or gather the food. They really didn't eat what I planted other than the beans, lettuce cucumbers. They are meat and tater boys. So this is something that is all knew to them. Oh there has been moaning and groaning but I just smile and tell them to just look at it as field training like when they were in the military. They just roll their eyes. But they know if they don't work they don't eat that it will take all of to survive until next summer.

Mother and Mt.Rider have been looking over my shoulder this week.

Pain? NO WAY!!!! Thanks to your comments we have been able to look at some things in a different way and find answers plus you have come up with some things that we have over looked. The only reason I remember about the altitude is I was posting on night and the one of the boys come through and asked if he needed to use the high altitude recipe. And yes I have problem breathing at higher altitude. Even just changing it by 400 feet. When we went to B'ham I did a lot of walking and had to go at a slower pace because I couldn't catch my breath.

We covered that in the last section when we started up hill, I posted about it. That was my thought when we started climbing the hill I am used to cooking at 150 feet elevation.

Some of us may have call for a chink recipe. This is one that I had found while we were home schooling and we were doing a pioneer project. It is from a 1975 edition of Mother Earth News. I will say this it did work but we lived in Alabama and had lots of red clay around which we used. I am not sure how well it works with plain dirt. But the dog house we built using this held together just fine. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yours...-Log-Cabin.aspx I have a notebook dedicated to log cabins. We hope to one day build a one room cabin on some land in the mountains as a retirement place for me and SF. So I have been researching and collecting information. They also had an article on building a small cabin http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes.../Log-Cabin.aspx http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Comm...uild-Cabin.aspx http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Home...Cost-Cabin.aspx http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Comm...Cost-Cabin.aspx There are more but these are just a few that I have added to my notebook.

(OK I am going to let y’all in on a little secret IRL I have some of the tools we are using my parents are older mom is 84 and if dad was still alive he would be 90. They actually bought an old farm house about 6 years before I was born. It did not have running water it had the old hand pump in the kitchen and it had an outside well with a hand pump also. I remember as a kid pumping water out of the well to water flowers. After they bought the house they could not afford a tractor so my dad used a mule team to plow the garden for the first 4 or 5 years. My brother and sister are not interested in dad’s old *manual* farm tools so I have inherited them all along with mother’s treadle sewing machine which I learned to sew on and her churn The hand pumps still work as well as many of the other tools. Dad took excellent care of them he said we never knew when we would need them. I even have the pot belly stove that was in the house when they moved there. Dad had moved it to his workshop and it was used as a heater and coffee warmer. Now one with the story…) Journal Entry for May 13, We made it finally but it looks like our supplies got hijacked. The packages that arrived right after we did were a bit of a disappointment, there was nothing there that I desperately needed. My yarn arrived as well as some material also needles and bobbins for my treadle sewing machine. But there were no supplies and with that reality my heart sank. I was more determined than ever to get the garden in and the green house built. I wonder if maybe we shouldn’t just keep the lean-to for one horse and keep the rest of the animals at W&A for the first year so we can focus on the green house. I have a terrible feeling we will be depending on that green house a lot this winter. Especially since our supplies didn’t make it. SF and I loaded up and head back to the cabin today. We were going to check out the area we had picked out for the garden and green house and see just how much sun each spot got through the day as well as look at what had to be done to fix the cabin. It was early yet the sky was still dark with just a hint of pink. Even the birds were still asleep. It took about 45 minutes to an hour to get to our cabin from the homestead but we were traveling with a loaded wagon. So it was slow going. We figure the homestead and cabin are only about 2-3 miles apart. As we pulled up to the cabin and stopped we just sat there looking at the place with the sunrise hitting it, it was beautiful. It looked like something from a Thomas Kincaid painting. But I could help but have the overwhelming thought of ….Why oh why did we undertake this? Ok enough pity party must get moving could not let this head cold win. We set to work checking the garden spot and green house spot to make sure they got morning sun. The garden looked like it would get ample sun not many trees around it. But the green house spot would need a couple of trees taken down. From what I can tell they are hard wood trees and will make great fire wood. They are too skinny to use to build with even for fencing they are too small one good rub from a cow and they would snap. Probably could use the trunks for corner post for the chicken coop but first they would have to come down. I helped SF get the front and back door down and moved out to the wagon where he had the saw horses set up. He was going to work on the installing a new door jam on top and cutting the doors down some. They were huge doors but they were too short by about 4-6 inches so he is going to take a foot off the door and install a small window at the top of the door jam using the plexi-glass we brought so we will have much needed light and re-hang the doors. Basically what he will do is build a new frame for the top part of the door and then cut the plexi-glass to fit the new opening and then build a picture frame of shorts to hold the plexi in place. We did bring a caulking gun and several tubes of caulk just for windows. So once the window is in place he will caulk it and that will help keep the draft down and keep it form leaking when it rains. While he went about cutting and measuring the wood we had and fixing the window I dug out hinges that we had rescued from my dad’s old workshop. My father passed away when I was 14 but my mother never touched his workshop. I wish I could have packed it up and brought it with us. We did manage to bring a lot of the tools with us but there was no way we could bring everything it would have taking 20 wagons the size of Mother’s wagon to even begin to clear that building out. Any back to the hinges…these hinges are old hinges that were in my parent’s old farm house when they bought it. They are large and will hold a solid wood door with no problem; they are 20 inch strap hinges that I had restored before leaving in hopes of using them in our new home (and IRL). I have other hinges that I have restored but they are barn hinges and gate hinges. I do have some old door latches that we will use also. The way I restored them was (warning this was not a weekend job)…I filled a pot with water and set on a burner out side and brought it to a boil. I turned it off and dropped the hinges in the water until the paint softened and it peeled right off. Using an old tooth brush I removed the paint out of the cracks and cervices. I then started work on the rust. I found the old motor oil (IRL he saves this to oil the garden tools like the hoe, rake, shovel, etc to keep them from rusting) that SF had set aside after he changed the oil in the car and soak the hinges for a couple of days. Then using sandpaper I sanded the hinges until all the rust was off. After I removed the paint and rust I coated the hinges with primer. I used several coats making sure that the hinge was covered completely. I used the raging technique because the hinges had cervices I did not want filled with paint (I wanted the character to come through) so I rubbed the primer on with a rag. Once the primer was dry and had time to set (after about a week) I applied a coat of glossy black enamel to seal the primer. While SF worked on the door jams I set about covering the broken windows with plastic to keep the rain out and wild life out. There were only three widows and two of them were broke. I measured the windows so that when SF cut the sheet of crack plexi-glass for the new over the door windows he could cut pieces big enough for the broken windows also. I went to the wagon and retrieved a shovel so that I could dig a fire pit. I did not want an “open” fire with no pit and rock ring around it. Even though it had rain recently I didn’t want to be the one to set the valley on fire. I would leave that to someone else. I dug out the grate and the rocks we had used along the trail and realized with a degree of sadness that I didn’t have to move them. I pulled out a jar of stew and heated it for our lunch. I heard horses in the distance and saw riders headed our way. It was P&N coming to check on us. I knew they would be hungry so I added another jar of stew to pan. They had been back of to The Q’s helping them turn their land and working with them. P said by weekend they should be able to be home. They would split their time between us and the Q’s until all the gardens were in then they would be working on felling trees for everyone so that we would have lumber to build the barn, green house and the addition on to the cabin. I asked them before they left again could they help me take down 4 or 5 saplings. I was going to use the wood to build the chicken coop and the saplings just happen to be right where I wanted the green house to go. What a coincidence These trees were going to be a challenge, they were on an incline which is never good and they were close to the cabin. So we decided to secure them with a rope as we cut them down to make sure they fell away the cabin. They were not very big they were only 6-9 inches across so it won’t take much to take them down. They are fairly tall probably 15 feel tall. They would have been wonderful trees to leave but they were too close together and were choking each other so a couple of them would have had to come down any way. The boys decided they would use the axe to take them down since they were so small. We take an extra precaution and put a rope around the top of the tree to keep from falling back on the cabin. We made our “facing cut” (which is the first cut in trunk of the tree and we make that cut in the direction we want the tree to fall) about 6 inches above the ground. We made the cut about a third of the way through the trunk. We then moved to the back of the tree and start chopping our cut was about 2 inches above our facing cut. In short order P had the tree down no problem. We took the limbs off and rolled it out of the way. Next was N’s turn…same procedure and tree #2 was down. With in an hour they had all 5 trees down, de-limbed and out of the way. Next came the clean up. After the boys left I began digging out around the stumps so that they could be pulled up. After about an hour I had dug down enough to discover they trees were actually all one root system and they had just split off as they grew. I laughed and told SF some squirrel must have planted its nuts all in one place. He walked over and looked and said it shouldn’t be too difficult to pull the stumps the root system was still rather shallow. Since it was about 3:00 and the sun was still on this spot I knew this was definitely the correct spot for the green house. I decided that it was time to put up the tent and get up house for now. So I started looking for a good spot for the tent and decided there really wasn’t a level spot expect where the lean-to was. So SF stopped working on the doors and helped me take down the lean-to. We saved the wood it was still fairly good and would be sufficient for an outhouse. It didn’t take much to take down the lean-to once the roof was off it practically fell apart. We stacked the roof and the two sides next to the wagon. I was going to take the nails out and go through it to see what was still useable but right now I was on a mission. With rake in hand I set about cleaning up the spot next the cabin to pitch the tent. Once I had all the limbs and rocks out of the way I spread out the trap and pulled out the tent. Before erecting the tent I attached another tarp that was larger than the tent to the side of the cabin. Once I had the tent up I stretched the second tarp across the top and secured it to several trees. The first tarp was the size of the tent and it helped keep moisture from seeping up through the bottom of the tent. The 2nd tarp was twice a large as the tent and would act as a sun shade and help protect us from the rain. It would also allow me to set some things out side and not fear them getting soaked. It was now dinner time and I was exhausted and I had not even started on the cabin. I stoke the fire and got it going again and pulled out some rice and got it to cooking. There was some beef stew left from lunch but not enough for both of us so I figured I would stretch it with rice. I set about making bread. I would let it rise over night. I did get a few eggs from A yesterday and brought them with us so we will have fresh eggs in the morning. I have some smoked bacon but I was hoping not to cut into it yet. However since the fresh stuff didn’t arrive I will be using more and more of my emergency preps. We were just about out of sun light so I pull out the lanterns and light one. SF joined me by the fire and was quite pleased with himself; he had managed to get both windows in, them caulked and the frame work done he said tomorrow we would work on re-hanging the doors. He said tomorrow we would replace the two broken windows also and see about putting screens up. As we sat there enjoying nature talk turned to the cabin and what we wanted to do. Then it hit me *CHINK* we were going to need more chink. Even now the chinking needed repair. I told SF I needed to get in the back of the wagon and find my box of books and binders. Somewhere in that box was a recipe for chink. He said he knew exactly where they were so he pulled the box out and brought it to me. As I flipped though it I found my home repair manual (I had designed this manual just for a rustic cabin) and sure enough the recipe was there… (I love it when a plan comes together) We looked over the recipe I had found in an old edition of Mother Earth News (November/December 1975 By Morgan McCamey) it called for 2 parts clay (or dirt); 1 part sifted wood ashes; 1/2 part salt; Water to mix. Break either material down to as fine a consistency as possible. If the earth is really tough, you may have to sift it into a steel washtub through screening mounted in a small wooden frame. You'll need a sifter, in any case, to free the ashes of coarse clinkers and debris. Be sure you're buying granulated— not rock —salt. Measure the ingredients out with a big bucket and mixed each batch of chinking in a wheelbarrow with a small garden spade. The water should be added slowly, until you can "feel" the mass sticking together. A little experimenting is needed to get the hang of this part of the job: Make your mix too dry and you won't be able to spread it . . . too wet and it'll drip all over. The actual chinking is slow and steady work and will need to be done when you have lots of time (a batch every few days on and off, preferably when the weather is good). It won’t be much fun to stand out there with the winter winds beating on your back and, chinking shouldn't be done during a cold spell anyway because frost will expand the moisture in the filler and force the mortar out of the cracks. Insert the chinking into the cracks as far as need be using a putty knife or even a kitchen spatula. Then, if there's still a hole to fill, apply more of the compound and smooth the surface with the flat of the blade. Any droppings on the logs may be wiped off with water and an old rag. Certain conditions of climate and temperature may cause the mortar to crack as it begins to harden. If that happens, go over the chinking every week or so with your putty knife and some water until the damaged areas are once again smooth and stay smoothed. Well looking around we had everything we needed. I we had brought along 100 pounds of salt just for this reason so now I just have to find clay. We can use dirt but clay is better anyone that has been around clay knows once it dries it ain’t coming off LOL. The fire had died down so we banked it and headed to the tent to sleep. SF was thrilled to see I had even taken the time to air up the raised air mattress. Neither one of us relished the thought of sleeping on the cold hard ground so I had brought along the air mattress and hand pump as a surprise for him. Our tent was large it would actually sleep 10 people so it was like we had a bedroom. I had set up bed side tables to put our eye glasses on and the wind up clock. There were also battery powered lanterns there for emergencies. I had even set up the camp shower out back and the camp port-a-potty. As he crawled in to bed he commented on the amount of camping equipment we had accumulated over the years. I laughed and curled up next to him and said wasn’t he glad that I didn’t mind roughing it if I had a few luxuries. As we lay there we heard all the sounds of nature settling down for the night. Peace settled over us as we talked in hushed whispers about our new life. Just as I drifting off to sleep he reminded me tomorrow I needed to draw out the garden. That P&N would be here this weekend to start breaking ground on the vegetable garden.

I am right up there with you Mother. I don't count 17 so out of 19 I got 17 correct. With the new semester starting I am going to have very limited time at work and with this cold when I get home all I think about is eating and going to bed so for the next couple of weeks I will not be posting daily. But when I do post it will probably be long post.