Quick(ish) update

With that single rainstorm we had last week, the grass grew over a foot in just days. So I have been doing a lot of yard work keeping the weeds tame. I have been keeping the goats and chickens fed and played with too. Also have been exploring the north side of the property woods and the three abandoned buildings to the north of me. All three of the buildings have been truly abandoned with very little left where they once stood. When you walk into them, there are holes in the walls and roof, and they have a smell that is unpleasant of ammonia and rat poop. As you open up old cabinets exploring you find nests of all types, mice, rat, bird, snake, squirrel, hawk, wasp.... whatever, if it builds a nest, these fine structures have them. What else is interesting is the stuff that these people left behind... one place has PVC pipes and connectors galore... hundreds and hundreds of bucks worth of PVC just strewed out across the ground. Old frames, and tin gas cans, Christmas decorations, little nicknack stuff from the sixties... its almost like walking back in time. It really feels like the "picker" shows on TV when you walk through these things. You are not sure if your going to get bit when you stick your hand in the box or not, and who knows, might be gold inside... so you risk it. Before people start accusing me of stealing, the owners of the property said we could, they don't care, they would have taken it all away years ago, but would cost too much to get the machinery up there to move it (the one cabin thing is on a cliff... no joke, hanging on a cliff) so they just abandoned it when the housing market fell here in the 70's.

Lately this past week I have mostly just been exploring my neck of the woods of Arkansas and also have been packing up for the return trip home. Since I was in High School, when I return back home, I will have moved a total of 12 times in 14 years (3 places though were different dorm situations, so you might count it as one) either way 10 to 12 times of moving... in 14 years... You would think I have this moving thing down by now, but only now do I seem to be getting the grip on the moving experience. Basically... it cost money, and you seem to have too much stuff when you move, and give a lot of it away during the move, though it doesn't seem to be enough. I am keeping up my trend though of letting go of stupid worldly possessions that just drag you down and opting to keep and bulk up on things that I can use that are practical. Problem is practical stuff weighs more (tools, building supplies..etc) so I have to be sensitive to that also.

 For kicks and giggles, since I just can't have a two paragraph update, let me show you my map of my moves over the past 14 years!!! (I'm so proud...lol)- I started my H.S. career out in a rental with my family, they ended up buying a house in the next neighborhood and my parents have lived their since the beginning of my sophomore year. After the move to the new house, I moved out when I went to college. From there, I lived in 2 dorms before moving out to a school owned apartment. After losing my good apartment roomy to the war in Iraq, I had a new roomy and we didn't see eye to eye too much at the time, so I broke my own lease (after talking to the housing head and checked out properly so I wouldn't get hit with the damage bill he was creating) and moved into my very first house... while still in college!  It was a 500 square foot 1 bedroom shack which didn't have any water pressure, nor a door to the all in one- bathroom/laundry/storage area. It had a two inch gap under the front door for the fresh air to come right in also!(which had been busted in by police at least twice due to the dead bolt being "moved" twice)  It was continually infested with fleas, and the previous tenant was in jail for killing his wife in my living room with an ashtray supposedly right in front of my couch... but the rent was cheap! ($325 a month to have my own "castle") so I lived there. Also this is where Cheyenne waltzed right into my life, so I still find the place a "happy" place when I look back in my book. But after repeated flea bombs and exterminator failures, I couldn't stand watching my dog get continually bitten on a nightly basis (it was tradition to sit down every night and pick fleas off of her... it was pathetic). I could handle the floorboard crappy heat, with the drafts coming under the door when its 5 degrees outside, and also the fact that someone had died in my house, but I couldn't let my dog suffer anymore, so I reluctantly moved back to Virginia Beach at my parents house pretty much right after I graduated. From there I moved to a townhouse with my Brother near the Lynhaven mall in Virginia Beach. My brother and I found the house in Chics beach right off the water so we moved there and that was awesome, probably my favorite "city" place I have ever lived in. After I could no longer afford the rent of that crazy cool place, I moved in with my mostly life long buddy from 5th grade, Stu, in the same neighborhood. From there, I moved to Arkansas where I am now and will be moving back to my buddy Stu's house again soon after this part of my trip is complete. So, if you think I am stuck, you are far left from right, I am just wading in the velvet sea. :P

What a pointless paragraph, that mostly was for me, but It kind of paints a picture of my personality. I think I am pretty open to trying new and different things at the very least. I dunno, I am sure a psychiatrist would say I have issues, but I say I am just living life and having fun, and honestly, I can't wait to see where I go next, but that is a future post and not for today.

A few days ago I was on the front porch drinking some coffee when 3 beautiful deer graced me with their presence. It was really cool and I wish my camera was working so I could have filmed it. But they were there, they saw me and just went about their business. The goats played in the field, the guineas went up and were running around the ground eating the bugs around the deer, and the chickens clucked away as they went about their business in the chicken yard. It was really cool, obviously one of those moments where you really needed to be there and witness the true beauty of nature first hand to get the experience, words, or even pictures just can't illustrate or spell out the awesomeness of that moment in time.




 ~~**WARNING**~~ Next paragraph might not set well with some of my readers. I respect you and your opinion and I hope I don't offend you, but I did what I did, and that is that.

Another thing I did this week was some taxidermy. Let me start off by saying that I would never kill an Armadillo, they are really cute and fascinating creatures, albeit really destructive and viewed as a pest in these parts. Around here there is always one or six dead on the side of the road. Yesterday I was driving and saw one that got hit but wasn't in the worst shape, and was pretty fresh. So, I got out and gently put it in the bed of my truck and went home. When I got home I removed the shell of the Armadillo, scraped it clean and put borax powder all over it. That supposedly helps dry it out, and cures it along with getting rid of the smell factor. As for the rest of the Armadillo, I put his body on the north end of the property for nature to take care of and was gone within a few hours, don't know what ate it, but it didn't go to waste.  I see this as re-purposing, I mean, this poor creature died before it's time and was just going to get ran over and over until it was a smear mark on the road. Instead, I took the shell from this gorgeous fascinating creature and will have it to display for generations to come. One day my kid might ask about it and Ill tell him or her about my crazy adventure out to Arkansas! Anyone who has seen the new movie version of "Dukes of Hazard", might have guessed why I chose to keep an Armadillo shell also. :P Supposedly according to the never lying internet it will work better than a tinfoil helmet to keep the "mind control waves" from the "Government" from entering my head!! HAHA

God bless the entire Broken Lizard group! (Image from internet)