Another picture

Here is another picture, looking back across the pastures. Luke and I went out and met the surveyor yesterday. As part of our purchase offer we agreed to install a fence between us and the 58 remaining acres. The first two-thirds is across the pasture (and creek) then up through the woods to the back fence. Both ends are staked, and he gave us some tips to find our way through the woods.

I read this online this morning and thought it was pretty funny:
"You may have heard on the news about a southern California man that was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found that he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 1 million rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel. My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: "Wow! He has ... ...about a million machinegun bullets." The headline referred to it as a "massive weapons cache." BTW, I am dubious about the pile of ammunition boxes and cans that they showed. It looked big enough to contain no more than about 100,000 rounds, unless there was a lot of .22 rimfire ammo. However, by southern California standards, even someone owning 100,000 rounds would be called "mentally unstable." Just imagine if he lived elsewhere:
In Arizona, he'd be called "an avid gun collector"
In Texas, he'd be called "a novice gun collector"
In Utah, he'd be called "moderately well prepared," but they'd probably reserve judgment until they made sure that he had a corresponding quantity of storage food.
In Montana, he'd be called "The neighborhood 'Go-To' guy."
In Idaho, he'd be called "a likely gubernatorial candidate."
And, in Wyoming he'd be called "an eligible bachelor."

Picking back up and news -

So here we are in Missouri - many adventures along the way. Apologies to my lone reader........so the best approach is to just pick up and start where we are now so family and friends can keep up on the news.

The big news is - after driving by and/or walking on 95 properties, spread out over 10 counties, we have a piece of land under contract! We are purchasing the north 40 acres of a 98 acre tract, located just east of Niangua, which is about 30 miles east of Springfield. The terrain is rolling, with plenty of good pasture and some woods. There is also a fun little creek!

Standing near the northwest corner looking diagonally back across the property:

What's a farm without a truck?

Making progress....

After a few years of being red, our house is pleased to be yellow again. It looks pretty good, if we may say so ourselves. Note the gutter up on the roof - we decided to replace the fascia as part of the painting process. The crew has done a great job installing a backyard as well.

So true......

(Click the picture to make it large enough to read)

Now that it is April, spring is pretty much here. On Saturday, I made a big deal about not using any more heat in the house until October. Since it has still been getting pretty cold in the house at night I have already broken my vow and have been using the furnace early in the morning. Between the dryer running and all the little bodies we have running around the place stays pretty warm during the day.

Yesterday I dropped the car off about halfway to the office then biked, bussed and biked again the rest of the way. There is nothing quite like riding a bike in the springtime. Riding on the trails through a marshy area between the UW campus and Lake Washington took me right back to the days of my bike riding youth. As I was bombing down the hill behind my office I saw another guy coming up the hill and making much better time than I had in the morning – I smugly thought to myself, “Well, I made it up too…” that is I thought that until I noticed he only had one leg.

I have always felt that the best way to live would be one in which you could ride or walk most everywhere you needed to go. This idea runs up against the need to live out where you can have some space to grow more plants and animals. Lord willing perhaps we can someday live nearer to a small town and be able to bike in and out………

If the Peak Oil predictions are correct, over time the world may come back to this type of arrangement.

I just finished reading the book Seeds of Deception, which is about the GMO industry. You can check it out at www.seedsofdeception.org. The site also contains a very good lecture on the subject.

So this is where we start.....

This is where we start, a little house in the big woods. I have held off blogging for some time, but am now starting with three desires in mind -

1. That this may serve as a forum to communicate with family and friends both new and old.

2. That this may help me organize and clarify my thought processes for myself.

3. That I may be a blessing to others, some of whom I fellowship with face to face and others who have blessed, challenged and helped shape my own thinking by their writings.

So this is where we start......