Update

Quick update from the homestead side of things. First off, I want to report with uttermost excitement and with a small side of kinda bummed out... that my Chickens laid their first egg- 2 and a half weeks ago!! Today, they are outputting around 3 eggs a day and will continue to grow to about 8 eggs a day average within the next month or so. I am so proud of my feathered ladies and I am truly excited to know that I raised normal chickens (even if I didn't get any eggs while I was there.. hence the bummed out side of it). So yes... congratualtions to my Chickens as they are growing and growing.. even without me. :(


Han and Leia- They have stopped getting out of their yard. They were getting out from the back fence where a tree had fallen over and they were able to hop on the tree then over the fence. My good neighbor was cool enough to come over and help the Farm Owner rid the tree. Also in other Goat news, I have reports that Han and Leia might be pregnant (again...obviously last time was a false flag)... but apparently Leia is starting to show. If that is the case that would be awesome!


Also, coming home for the first time to his farm since I started to help them create their dream homestead is the husband of the farm owner who has been overseas deployed to Greece as he finished out his Navy career. Come Monday, he is Stateside again and will be home and get to see what I have done to his property first hand! Obviously his wife and little Juliet are truly excited to be able to see him again and he is excited to be coming home and see his wife and child again... but I am  excited to see how he reacts to what I have done at the homestead! I will not lie, if anyone wants to live on my acreage I will have someday and create a farm for me while I'm at work then I can come home to an almost turn key homestead... applications are available at my desk! I just hope he is truly stoked and siked.


As for me. Being back in Virginia has been 50-50. I am truly happy to see my loved ones again myself, my friends here, and am also starting my massage clientele back on some massages out of my old room in my home... which is now converted into a office/massage room. So for my clients out there, if you would like a massage from Big Dave... I'm back open for business out of my house (walking distance from the Chiropractors office).  :)


The wide open spaces and truly pitch black nights filled with stars you cant count and the numerous satellites and shooting stars I could see along with all the wild animals that would at times just walk on by like I was just part of the woods... I miss that...a lot.  I also (believe it or not) miss the sounds of the 3 year old screaming "Mr Dave!!!!!" at me to do something fun for her (and of course the rest of my friends I made in Arkansas).


What else am I doing? Currently (while doing some side jobs here and there...) I am in the process of doing the ground work to open up a new business in a heavily regulated pet treat industry.  The next post whenever that may be will outline my plans for a new Organic home made dog treat line that I am in the middle of creating. But wow... the regulations! More to come on this topic... I promise. But for now, I gotta get back to work. Till next time...



:)

Quick update

Hello all! I am back in Virginia Beach! Got my computer unpacked and set up, but still getting my life back to being somewhat recognizable as Big Dave's Life.

It was only appropriate that I would chose to come back when the US decided to raise it's gas prices after seeing a summer low just weeks before I left Arkansas. Nice thing about have a 35 gallon tank though in a F250 is that you go longer in between fill ups and you only have to fill up four times to get back home. The stats... 1,078 miles from here to there, plus about another 100 miles or so of here and there driving. Four fill ups of gas totaling 105.9 gallons of gas, at a humble $399.51 (20 some odd dollars cheaper than when I went out to Arkansas!) Still though, pulling a trailer, brings the already horrible gas mileage down to around 11 miles a gallon or so... CRAPPY! Now that I am pinching pennies, I will see how much the thing gets without pulling a trailer, but not sure if Ill be able to afford keeping such a beast of a truck... might have to down grade in size a bit for better gas mileage.

Since I have been gone, Han has gotten out of the fenced in yard 6 times... he misses me so much, that is why he is being so rebellious! (obviously :P) Other than that, everything seems normal from the homestead, so that is fair news!

Ill write more later, but for now just wanted to tell you guys I got back safe and sound. BTW- Did you know I had no, and I mean NO traffic all the way from Arkansas to Virginia... until I hit Suffolk... then it was slammed... just saying Virginia... we need to work on our infrastructure here!!!

Till next time!!

Last minute farm jobs, and an End of a Chapter

Today, I did a lot of things around the farm. Cleaned out the Chicken coop one last time, cleaned out the Goat Pen one last time, grabbed both Goats and gave them a final hoove trimming and then did what I have been putting off over a month to do, but had to do it.... and that was to dehorn Leia.

While I had her on the milking stand, which by the way, needs to be modified just a little bit... my Goats are too small even for that!! The feeder trough and head holder just needs to be brought down about four inches... my Goats are so tiny! Anyway, so I have Leia on the stand, Im holding her down and trimming her hooves, after that I started examining the Horn that needs to be trimmed. If you trim too far down the horn you will hit nerve endings and also blood vessels. So, the first idea was to trim about a half inch at a time and see if she grew more and more distressed as we got closer or not. However; upon examining the horn, it became obvious (because the horn wiggled) sometime in the past month she broke the outer shell of her horn off at the area where the band was applied when she was a baby. When I touched that area, she screamed like I've never heard a goat scream before!  So I knew it was a painful area, but with the shell of the horn broken already in that area, I decided to go ahead and snip it off there and hope for the best. Took the sheers and took one little snip and off flies the horn tip! (literally I spent almost five minutes looking for it in the grass later) Also... her nub shot out a squirt of blood that must have traveled out about foot, squirting me and the table pretty good. I was hoping no blood would come out at all, but I never have that kinda luck. However; it bled for only a second (like a blood blister popping) and it didn't bleed anymore. the second I snipped it, she stopped crying and I think it probably relieved a huge Headache in her head or something, she almost relaxed. I poured on the anti-septic and gobbed a big chunk of it on the tip of her horn stub and she was off on her way like nothing ever happened. I can only imagine the irritation she must have had with a half broken horn. I am glad that chore is done! And well, at the end of the day, Leia gave me a little piece of her for me to keep as a keepsake! Ill probably make a knife handle out of the horn tip or something awesome. I think she has forgiven me for helping her out and seems to be doing fine. Honestly, I think it was more traumatic on me than her. :P

Today I am packing up my guitars and my computer, so this definitely should be the last post till I am on the flip side of things. Ill be talking to you all soon! I hope you enjoyed this part of my journey, stay tuned to see where I go from here!

**~~Aftermath of Goat Horn pics- View at your discretion~~**

After the blood was washed off the table, horn beside the shears.

Poor little Leia, lost her horn!

You can kinda see in the middle where it was barely hanging on (the red area)

Look how small her little horn was... my tiny Nigerian Goats!

Tarantula!!!

12 total eggs, before one got broken.

I went over to my neighbors house tonight for some going away home made Chili. Nice little last minute gesture of kindness from my neighbors. Its not every day people still do stuff like that for neighbors, and its just nice seeing that old school Americana still alive in our wonderful country today.

After eating Chili, My neighbor Chad and his wife, the little girls and myself wondered down to the chicken coop to gather the eggs for the day. The total count was 12 eggs. However, my 3 year old roomy, well it was her first time gathering eggs and she got a little excited that when she put her first egg (that she has ever collected in her life) more like slammed it in the basket, it got busted in a few places. After that I reminded her that eggs are like babies and you need to be gentle with them, the other four she gathered made it through the ordeal OK. Tonight I do have pictures! I stole a camera and took a few and got them emailed to me.

The eggs are still small because the hens are young

Watch where you step!

After gathering the eggs, my neighbors both start squealing at me to come over quick, I was like what, they pointed to the grass and there it was! Finally! I thought it was just a urban myth!!!! My first Tarantula encounter in the wild! I knew supposedly this state had them, but I haven't seen any since I got here. I almost thought this chance encounter was staged, but both my neighbors hate them, so I have my doubts. I'm up to seeing around 10 or so now on Scorpions, they don't even startle me to much anymore, its just like seeing a cricket, except this one doesn't hop, and it can sting you, but really they are always more concerned with trying to get away from you. Anyway, back to the tarantula... this is where I remember that my neighbor Chad, who looks and talks strikingly similar to "Larry the Cable Guy"... even wears cut off blue collar shirts.... well he freaks out over any and all spiders. Me, I freak out over the small harmless ones that I cant see where they went after they crawl up your arm with lightning fast speed, but over a Tarantula... nah, these creatures are awesome. Its been well over ten years since I have held one and I didn't want to be "That Guy" at the get together that got bit, so I let it crawl on a stick instead of my arm. After it settled down on the end of the stick I decided to brave it a bit, much to the shock and horror (as can be seen in faces in the background of the pics) of my friends and neighbors, and bring it close to my lips for a mock up little kiss. Well, in the next picture you can see where it reared up really fast  right when my lips are next to its fangs, and the moment was caught on film! Priceless! After watching my neighbor turn a whiter shade of pale and see every hair on his arms stand on end, I decided to let it go near the chicken house for the chickens to find and eat later.

Only in the country!

I used to sell these, at Animal Jungle, I have the store record of having 15 scorpions and tarantulas on me at one time! Come on, its my claim to fame! Now and days though, I would rather handle them with a stick.

Famous last redneck words... "hey ya'll, watch this!"

Notice the terrified look of Andy in the background.

Went in for a kiss and it got mad and reared up at me!! Honestly, it was a little bit jumpy, but overall a very nice Tarantula!

All packed up.

Clint Eastwood inspired me to ramble on and on for a bit. So with out further hesitation... It is Time for Big Dave to Ramble.... Enjoy

Lick the tip of your finger, hold it high up in the air, figure out what way the wind is blowing, point yourself towards the East and start walking on to a new chapter in the continuation of my awesome Journey.  I am pretty much all packed up, all I have left is a few clothes, my guitars, and my computer to put into the trailer. Its weird, I came here with a trailer that was bulging and stuffed from floor to ceiling with crap. This time, there is a big hole, mostly because I am leaving my awesome bed here and some other furniture. I might have lost volume, but I know I have gained trailer weight, from some of the auctions I bought some building supplies and also ammo... what obviously equals out to a lot of added weight to this thing. So, once again, I am a little scared on the heaviness of the trailer. At the end of the day though, I can fit my entire life into a trailer and a truck bed.. one day maybe Ill be able to widdle it down to just a truck bed, but oh man it is hard to let go of some cool stuff. (I'm working on it)

Nerves. I know I don't have a lack of them. Most of you don't know this, but when I moved out here, I got sick, and couldn't keep anything down for almost, if not more than a week, I could barely keep down any water either for days. It was sweet in a way watching the (unhealthy) pounds come off, but it made me weak and extremely tired. This time around, the butterflies are flying around as usual, but so far, I haven't gotten sick from it, and I don't plan to either... of course, I guess you never really plan to. But as my move date draws closer and closer I am definitely feeling it, the stress of moving is never fun, even if I do have more experience in doing it now than the average bear.

Looking back over the past few months here, I have answered many questions in my life, as well as drafted up new ones to ponder for years to come. I like the fact that life really is a road that you travel, and there is always a straight and "under the radar" normal path to your left, but at every mile there is a "Y" in the road and you have the opportunity to take the "road less traveled" and see where it could lead. Before and up to when I went to college, I always stuck to the path on the left, being real active in School Sports and Government, shooting for the stars in the Corporate Advertising world believing the Myth that to get far and be happy in life you need to do your part in this perfect without flaw society, and work at a gig until your real old and can't live life full, then you can try to go live life. Stick with me here... I see it all the time, usually it is a widowed woman in her 70's finally going on that African Safari that her and her late husband always dreamed of taking, but never "found the time"... that is, until he is dead and she is lonely. That sounds like crap to me,  I can't have a life full of "what if's" and "only wish we had the time or money" clogging up my space. :P Finally, I started waking up to these false views (to me) on what "Happiness" is for many, and if it works for you, that is awesome man!

About my Senior year in College and since then (talk about finding yourself in college ehh?), I have generally taken the "road less traveled" path because I love the adventure of it, it's not canned soup. Every time you change direction its a different flavor added to the dish! Most people stuck in the muck of today's society would say I "lack direction" or "don't have true foreseeable goals" or what have you. I obviously disagree, I see the human experience not to be wasted slaving away at some "comfy" corporate gig where I give up five to six days of my week just to get one to two days off as a reward. During those one or two days a week you have off your supposed to cram in all  human life experiences... (lawn care, family time, gardening, rest and relax, go to concerts, ball games, cook outs, house repair, cleaning, wash the truck...) that pretty much takes up the entire weekend. I would rather work 7 days a week, but spend it having fun, working hard for what you get, but doing what you love, saving lots of time with friends and family and living a humble but happy and full life from it. There is the eighties song that has the lyrics "everybody is working for the weekend" it took me years to understand the meaning to that song.

I feel family is the most major part of the human experience. We are social creatures, no matter how much of a shut in you are, without someone to talk to, love, or just be near, life gets really lonely and frankly boring. I think one of the saddest things would be to die alone. No one there to talk to through the end, no one to hear the last worldly words that come out of your mouth, no one to share in the death experience from this plane to the next. Which brings up a minor side point.... (told ya I was rambling today)

A lot of people know that I'm a little bit leery about the future of this planet and the future of man kind, and how it will play out in the coming months to the next few years. Yes, one of the reasons why I moved out here was to make a base camp and have a area to go if the world goes down hill, or in prepper talk, "when the $h!t hits the fan" in society and the world crumbles around us and yadda yadda yadda. Super volcano this, EMP that, Tsunami this and Earth Quake that, Solar flares shining, Government failing, Aliens invading, Asteroids falling, Planet "X" or Niburu swinging by for a close visit whatever the case may be one day in the near or far off future something will inevitably happen. Rome wasn't built in a day, but fell almost over night, all great empires and societies do, and its usually without much warning. This is a pattern in history and America is not omitted from that pattern. BUT at the end of the day, here in Arkansas I have very few friends, and no close family. My roomies and my neighbors are all I care about out here, my loved ones and a ton of friends and connections live in Hampton roads. So if the world ended tomorrow, even though I feel my chances for survival through catastrophic times are greater here in Arkansas, I know in my heart that I would rather be around my loved ones and "go as a group" or "fight it out as a group" instead of not knowing if they ever made it, or worse, knowing that they are gone and I'm alone in the world. Pretty gloomy, but hey, its just how I feel. No doubt some people might distance themselves from me after reading this last paragraph, but whatever, this is my blog after all, although this post is reading more like a journal entry to me as this goes on. "LOL"

The cool part of that last paragraph, is that Ill get a few random hits to my blog from the internet while people are doing a search about different end of the world scenarios. I love it... seriously, blogging is kinda addicting... According to "expert blogger websites, 'help areas' on how to write better blogs"... I just gotta work on the content,  shorten the length of my posts, keep my personal views of things out of the mix, and blog more frequently... wow, I got a lot to work on. See, I can't even follow blogging basic's and guidelines in life.

So, assuming the world isn't going to end, which would be great,  man does need to do what he has to do to get through in life. I leave Arkansas in a few days and I will take the road again to see where it leads. Adventure awaits me, the World will tempt me, Fate will lead me and I can't wait to see whats next.

~~**~~
This may be the last post before I am back in Virginia, if so, it might be a week till ya hear from me again. If not, well, obviously you'll get the awesome honor and pleasure of another post or two before I go... but THEN there will be a minor break while I travel, unpack and decompress... afterwards, it will be back up and running again with lots of stuff coming! Including the past year in review! And whats next in the crazy awesome cool adventure of "Big" Dave's Life!!! STAY TUNED! (you know you want to)
~~**~~

 "Im the king of my own Land. Facing Tempests of Dust, I'll Fight till the End. Creatures of my dreams raise up, and Dance with me." ~ Outro by M82 (this is finally going to get noticed in the music charts and will explode soon because you can hear this very beautiful song at the end of the "Cloud Atlas" trailer... which is the 'coming out of retirement' new movie by the Wachowski's... ya know... the people who made the "Matrix" trilogy) <--- More Shameful Blog fodder that will draw more readers from the internet. :P But seriously, its a cool song and totally speaks my language.

Bird Poop!

So, there I was, laying down on the picnic table outside, listening to the wind blow, and watching the clouds pass by. Then, I look up... I see this little tiny tiny spec of black in the cloud... its coming down.. it's falling out of the sky and about to hit me... I try to move out of the way and SMACK!..... Right on my upper lip I get hit. I instinctively evacuate all air out of my lungs in a trumpet like blow to make sure whatever just hit me doesn't get in my mouth. I reach over and feel the distinct feel of Bird Poop. Weird part about this, there was NO BIRD! This poop must have been floating around in the cloud or something of the sort and waited till it was perfectly lined up to drop it on me.

Supposedly in some European Countries it is a great sign of Good Luck to be hit in the head by bird poop. In America, not so much, more like it makes you the butt end of a bad joke. But today, I will pretend to be European (aren't we all anyway.. at least by .0001%?)... So good luck for me!!

Too much info I'm sure, but I had to tell somebody... and it seems your the lucky one to be told! 

This is going to be one LUCKY month! 

"Hurricane" Isaac

For those interested in the Guineas... I have no news, except that they haven't shown back up. At this point, I'm not holding my breath on them coming back. Especially after today, due to the non stop Rain we have gotten from Isaac, I would have thought (if they still cared about little ol' Dave) they would have come home to the shelter of the coop from the storms. I was talking to a local who raises Guineas and Chickens about it, and he suggested it might have been a large Owl, in the middle of the night, coming by and taking one at a time back to its nest, killing it, then coming back for another guinea. He swore by this, as he saw it happen to him,  and said it happened at least twice (one Owl supposedly took 12 of his in one night). Owl, Coyotes, Raccoons, whatever it was (if it was a predator) that is just mean! I'm still holding hope they just got bored with the vast wealth of their situation and wanted to try to rough it out in the real world for a bit and will come back soon to the sheltered harbor of my domain. (wishful thinking I know)

About Isaac... I know it did vast damage to LA, and MS. But for us, we only have gotten a steady rain with overcast. Since last night it has drizzled and rained non stop. This morning when I let the chickens out (no worry, they won't get blown away... the winds are non existent) I walked over the septic tank area where it was dug up a few weeks back, and for the first time since I came to this place, my feet sunk in MUD! I thought the ground was too rocky for that, but with the ground getting dug up and loosening everything up... then 12 hours of rain... well, its a good combo to get the ground soft. :) The local news channels aren't really reporting anything storm related that could tell me much about the system, other than it is going to rain today... good job weatherman. I guess they aren't used to reporting this style of weather, most of the info I have gotten from the storm has been from the Weather Channel. But basically, I guess the thing has blown itself out for the most part, and will only produce rain and mild wind until it finally dissipates somewhere over the northeast coast.

I am fully aware that this Blog is not as fun without the pictures (at least in my case it isn't). My phone is still broken. I have found out it is the Card reader on the phone (since other SD cards wont work either) so I will have to wait till I'm back in Virginia Beach to get the thing fixed (thank goodness I have insurance on this thing). The real question is "what I am going to write about when I get home during the transition from one farm to where I go from here?" I hope and plan to stay on topic and just report life as it happens and in turn will hopefully document the growth of Dave as he pursues continual happiness and produce life changing ideas that will benefit the surrounding community around me and/or even the entire world. Thing is folks... I was born for greatness, my Mom always told me so. Or maybe she just said I was "special" either way, knowing me is a fantastic blessing to you and you should feel honored! (This is only SLIGHTLY sarcastic...lol) But seriously if the World doesn't end soon, I plan on doing something great and awesome... just gotta figure out what "it" is first... again, that is one of the reasons why I have this thing.. to document that greatness in it's conception, through the fetal stages into the birth in the world as the best idea ever since sliced natural nine grain whole wheat bread!  But seriously... I gotta work on that "Idea" and make it come into fruition... Say tuned (might be a few years from now... but stay tuned!)

Other than documenting the last few projects I have around here to do before I leave, I feel it is time to start doing the whole "reflecting back on the summer" posts. Reflecting on my gardening, my building, my running a homestead, and my personal growth through these past few months are going to be the main topics... hopefully with a few pictures laid in too... so be on the look out for that mini series REALLY soon! Till next time, Ill try not to get "blown away" from Isaac and will be enjoying the peace and quiet of Nature before coming back to the hustle an bustle of the city.

Guines (Part 2)

Once again, I start questioning myself if I have some sort of psychic abilities that I don't know about. A few days ago I posted that I thought I lost my entire flock of Guineas... then they came home. Well the very next night, they were nowhere to be found... again. This time I took a slightly more relaxed approach to them not being around thinking they were just exploring the woods near the home.

Unfortunately, over 48 hours later, they still haven't come home. I want them to free range, but I don't want them to find another home! I did some research, and I found that Guineas are like Pheasants, as in they like to wonder off and move around. Especially if they don't have food...  but these guys get fed better than a football team, smorgasbord whenever they want in the feeder, and two handfuls of chicken scratch pretty much every day on the ground too, plus all the bugs they can eat! So, hopefully, they will come back after exploring wherever they are right now and everything will be fine. But for now they are missing in action. :( 

BUMMER MAN!

Guineas

Last night I went out to put up the chickens and the guineas into the hen castle. Usually right at Sunset, they find their way back home and perch up for the night. Some nights though the guineas decide they want to sleep under the stars and will perch up in the tree next to the hen house. Last night they decided to do just that, so I put up the chickens and said goodnight to my 7 remaining guineas nesting in the tree above me.

This morning I go outside, feed the Goats, and let the chickens out and look around for the guineas. Usually when they spend the night outside the coop they are at the coop door when I wake up wanting to get in and get a drink of water and eat some food. This morning they were no where to be found. I looked all around the yard, in the trees, looked for feathers scattered on the ground (a sign that one or a few got eaten), I listened... nothing. I couldnt hear them (and they are a noisy bunch of birds) and I couldnt find them.

I started having thoughts on that I just lost my entire flock of guineas to predators over night, and was having mixed emotions about it. Sad cause it wold be horrible, but kinda funny... cause at the end of the day, for all seven to get eaten in one night would have its own set of tragic comedic value in itself. I have in the past and will continue to say that guineas are like the doe-doe birds from the movie "Ice Age"... they act the same... I mean exactly the same. They run around acting like fools and don't react like they should when it comes to life and death situations. Case in point- a month ago, they were perched only about waist high on a branch at night. It was dark, so I walked right up to them and grabbed them one by one and put them in the coop manually... now they had no idea it was me, it was dark... so my thoughts are, when the guy to the left and right of you gets taken away... you might wanna fly off and take cover or something... nope.. not these guys, they just sat there, and waited patiently for their "demise" as I put them back in the coop. So I don't give a lot of credit to my guineas survival instincts to say the least.

So there I was this morning, all bummed out that I had lost my entire flock. I mean, I had 16 guineas once... none died naturally (unless you consider predators a natural death), so to lose all 16 in a matter of months would be a sign for me to maybe not raise guinea fowl. But then, something funny happened. As I am walking back to the house I hear the distinct sound of a guinea off in the distance. So I walked around the yard and went up the drive way a bit, and then there they were... all seven of them. They were walking casually back down the driveway like a bunch of drunk teenagers coming back after a night of partying, literally swaying to the left and to the right of the driveway like they were still a little tipsy. They just walked right up to me and was like... whats up dude?

Welcome to my morning! :)

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)

Burn Ban temorarily lifted!

The beginnings of a good time!

We had to move the rope and the drum, they were getting really hot!

Because we had so much rain the other day, the burn ban has been temporarily lifted in the area. People have months and months of burnable throwaway stuff to burn, and it is obvious where most people live... you can see the smoke. My neighbor was no different, and had a hay ring full of old timber, feed bags, bushes, sticks, you name it, he had it piled about four feet high or so. One match later to a feed bag, and within minutes the entire hay ring was engulfed in flames! It burned so hot everyone who showed up for the bonfire all grabbed their chairs and moved back almost 20 feet! It was hot, and I think the only time I have seen flames that high on a bonfire (or close to it) was when I stacked up five pallets at my buddy Chris's house and lit them up. It was a fun time last night, we made smores and cooked hotdogs (after the flames died down). After everyone got their fill on hotdogs and smores, my neighbor and I took this huge old dog house that must have weighed a ton and threw (rolled) it onto the fire, after a little while we had a legit structure fire going on! It took about an hour to burn all the way to a crisp, and like if it was magic, just at the right time, the kids started geting cranky as the sugar wore off and it was time to go home! Great fun, neighbor friend filled night.

Didn't take long for the dog house to really get going.

You know you love the hair!

Pretty... and pretty hot!

Dog house, fully engulfed

That same neighbor, works at the local trash disposal area driving the big bulldozer and also a dump truck when they need him to. Well, earlier on in the week, he was taking a load of trash to the top of the dump with the dump truck, when the truck stalled and died... on the slope. Apparently, when this particular dump truck kills it's engine, all the other stuff goes out too... hydraulics, power steering, emergency and regular brakes... don't ask me why, but this truck does and should probably get fixed... and I hope it will now, cause when it died, it started rolling backwards down the hill. It went off a small embankment, sideways, and gave my neighbor quite the scare, a few bruises... and a concussion. A few days later, he is still having headaches and is struggling through the day a bit. So this morning, I offered (kinda eagerly) to help him with his horses. Today, my neighbor stood on the sidelines and I  exercised his horse's. My neighbor and I ended up taking the horse's for a nice hour long ride through the back country this morning too. It has been since college since I have been on the back of a horse, so it was a real pleasure helping out a friend, and getting some riding time out of the deal too! After over an hour or so worth of riding, I could feel it in my legs and butt too. And I know I should have been wearing jeans and boots, but really it wasn't all that bad, and that was the easiest horse I have ever ridden! Lord knows when Ill ever get to ride again, so it was worth the small amount of soreness that came from it.

Yeah.. I am awesome.

You just knew I had to pose in front of my F250!

Milking station

Today started off with some real rain! We even had puddles on the ground! With the rain came some cooler weather too, and I could work in the workshop and not be completely soaked through with sweat. As I was bumming around in the garage, I asked my roomy if I could convert an old, very basic table into a Goat Milking station. She said yes, and I was on my way!

This image is from the internet- but I basically copied this idea.

My version of a more sturdy, kick butt, milk stand.

I was glad to score the table, as that saved me time in not having to construct one, and also made it so milking could be done sitting down and not hunched over like a hunchback.. I mean, we have Nigerian Dwarf's, they are 20 inches high at the crest of the spine, so it will be nice to have something table height. Most milk stand tables are only about a foot off the ground, because most goats are much bigger!

I started off by replacing the top of the table with new wood, since it was made of particle board and was crappy, plus it will be outside so you need something a little more rainproof. After I replaced the top of the table I got to work on this mid-evil sideways guillotine looking contraption that holds the goats head in place. I saw a few milking station pictures online, and basically copied some plans of it and created my own unique version of it, because God forbid I ever use the actual plans or blueprints! :) After I got all my pieces cut and put together I attached it to the table. I really like this new contraption and I hope it will be of great use on the farm especially when Leia starts kidding and producing milk. For the time being, it will be a nice way to hold the goat still while I trim the hoofs and attempt to give them a good brushing.

Stole my room mates camera to take these.

Also, Leia's "uni-horn" is starting to curl backwards, so if I don't trim it, it can grow into her head and eventually kill her. This is why, among many other reasons, you "debud" or "dehorn" your goat when they are a "kid". Basically while they are really young and have just the beginnings of little nubs of horns, you take a real hot Iron and press down right on the nubs for a few seconds. Effectively killing off the growth cells in the horns so they never develop. I used to be like most people when they think about it and felt it is animal torture and unnatural. However; these things must be done, if not, they can and will most likely lead to things like what Leia has, and that can kill her later on in life if left unattended.

Plenty of screws = it isn't breaking!

You have to think cost to benefit- yes, it hurts the kid goat for a few minutes of burning pain when they are a baby and they generally forget about the whole ordeal in a matter of minutes and are back to playing and such. But then, you don't have to deal with what I am dealing with now later on. Also Horns can and have killed other goats, created miscarriages in goats, can break ribs of other goats, get stuck in fences, get stuck in feeders, can gore other goats or humans, and of course (like in my case) can start growing back into the goats body (there was a local who refused to have her goats horns debudded or trimmed, "because it is unnatural," and one of her goats had a horn grow right into it's own eye and it killed the poor creature.... if I had my way, she wouldn't be keeping any animals anymore.).... the list of potential bad things the horns can and inevitably will produce far outweighs a little "burn" when they are a baby.

So yeah, in the next week or so, I get to do my first ever horn trimming. Hans horns are doing fine, and growing well and straight, so since he wasn't debudded as a kid, we are just going to leave his alone. The horns are part of their skull (duh right?) but as they grow, half the horn is like a fingernail, the other half is well alive and full of blood vessels and nerves. So if you decide to dehorn a goat later on in life, you need to call a vet, it is an operation, and it will be bloody. So yeah, in short, Han gets to keep his horns. Leia on the other hand will not. She was banded as a juvenile (put a really tight rubber band around the horn, effectively cutting off the circulation and eventually killing off the horn and making it fall off) but it didn't work right on one horn (hence why she has one horn and not two). Luckily though, where the band was has grown out and is now about halfway up the horn and is like a little "channel" where I believe blood flow and nerves were cut off a while back, and I am crossing my fingers that they still are... again, this is speculation, but I hope that is the fact. If so, I will snip right there and hope to have no blood or risk of infection. If not, well, I will have blood clotting agents on hand just in case. FYI- did you know Cobwebs were used throughout history as a topical blood stopper... lick it up! Unfortunately I don't have many cobwebs, so I will be using more civilized and sanitary equipment, should it come to that. No worries... there will definitely be a post on that one!

Always check your work! Built SOLID  (Yes- I know I need a haircut... but you know your jealous of the hairdo- admit it!)

Cheyenne say's hello and woof woof, bark bark! Till next time!

From the internet- but see, the goat doesn't seem to mind.

Give me more food woman! (also from internet)

Real quick update

Just wanted to announce that the Front Yard Garden in Quebec actually won their City Council case, and were given the opportunity to be sitting advisors on the new commitee to re-write the cities ordinance codes plus they are allowed to keep their garden intact! They showed up with over 35,000 signatures on their petition (they were only trying to get 5,000 originally)!!!

So, for now I have to eat my words, people can still make small changes at a local level (at least in Canada) in government! And I am glad that they can! It gives me hope that all the letters I write to my "elected officials" at all levels of Government might actually get read from time to time.

If you would like to read the blog of this fine couple and see how their story developed from a citation to a John Lennon/Yoko Ono themed movement you can visit their blog by clicking here, or go to website...
http://www.lepotagerurbain.com/
 (its all in French, but they have a build in translation button on the page)


Back at the homestead, we are having a small system of developing thunderstorms starting to roll through, but still, again, all thunder, no rain... yet! We will keep waiting and prayen!

My Pictureless Update With Big News!

Hey guys and gals, Sorry for the prolonged delay in between posts, I even got a lil' friendly jab in my comment section! :P    Well here is the deal! Just the other day I had a bunch of photos ready to download from my phone and was going to put up a post. Unfortunately, as luck would have it I dropped my phone on the ground and somehow that "wiped out" my SD card.... actually "fried it" seems like the better way to describe it. It felt like it was about to burst into flames when I took it out of my phone! So now, my phone currently doesn't have an SD card, and I am thinking my phones SD reader may be fried too, Ill find out when I get a new SD card to put back in and try it out.

Worst part about it is that my phone was screwing up every time I tried backing it up to my computer via USB months before this happened. I couldn't download all my pictures and put them into a file on my computer. So I just started Bluetoothing most of my pictures to my computer, unfortunately I did not bluetooth them all, nor any from my last set of pics. I lost a lot of pictures to PC based software! Bummer man, like 500 pics and vids gone...That is it! I am getting an iPhone 5! I already have the Apple computer, might as well switch my phone to Apple too, then everything will work better! :)

But of course that takes money, so for now Ill just get it fixed... I am going into Jonesboro tomorrow morning and going to try to find a place that will look at it, since there is no Sprint store within 100 miles from my house... Apparently Sprint doesn't care too much about my friends around here in the sparsely populated areas of Arkansas. But Verizon cares, and they capitalize on it. I do believe I am the only one in town with a Sprint cell phone contract! HA! But there is a reason why I do not jump ship and switch to Verizon, and that is... drum roll please...........

I plan on moving back to Virginia Beach!

My roomies know, my loved ones know, now my friends and the rest of the world gets to know. Albeit not is the grandest of announcements, with such a horrible introduction, and not with the explosions of fireworks and awesome pictures, and montage videos set to cheesy background music reflecting back on the summer of 2012 and seeing what I have done with the time I had, and look back over on what I learned, and well... no worries, all of that is totally coming... and your so going to watch it, and I will too! But that isn't coming today (let me get my camera fixed first!)

Alright, lets pump the brakes a bit, slow down and say WHAT?!?!

I will be pushing the seven month mark when I head out of here. I have decided to cut my time here a few months short for a multitude of reasons. All of which are in good spirits, nothing bad has happened, I haven't gotten in any fights with the locals or my roomies, I'm very happy with the area, the temperature has settled down, feels like the earliest days of Fall are starting to show up. Although rain is still a huge issue- Farmers are culling their cattle herds due to feeding costs, Hay is going up in price every week, its pretty bad to be a farmer here right now.  But none of those are reasons why im leaving a little early.

I gave myself a year to start from scratch a working homestead... and by golly... I did it in seven months! Granted, the garden needs a lot of work, but even right now it is being pooped on all over by the chickens and goats that spend the majority of their day in there eating and fertilizing the garden. Next early spring my buddy will till it and add more manure, and utilize my 11 raised garden beds I made into what he would like the garden to be. I kinda got to a stopping point at the garden this fall mostly due to finances getting a little tight at the homestead due to some personal issues the Farmers were going through a little while back. But by next spring, if they make a very small investment in dirt and manure, I believe they can have a fantastic growing garden all year next growing season. So right now, the farm is slowing down. There is always work to do, but nothing major until next year. With it being a little slow, with the projects slowing down, it gives you much time to reflect.

This Fall, nothing much will be going on here. I could sit here in the basement and hang out with my friends and neighbors, and watch the snow fall, or I could come back to Viginia Beach and spend time with Family, friends and loved ones and also have the opportunity to "have a hobby that pays" in massage. I probably won't restart McNeeley Wellness as a Business right off the back, but will remain liscenced and certified and will be doing massages out of my house. :) Because lets face it, I have been without an income for almost 7 months now... I am not broke (believe it or not... testament to my Frugality!!!!), but if I don't start getting a bit of an income soon, I will be. So that is another reason why.  Believe it or not, Massage is a hard sell in the Bibles belt... of the Bibles belt! "You are not touching me sir... and you sure as hell ain't touching my wife!" That is pretty much the common response when talking to people around here about massage..lol. People don't like to be touched here... it is tragic, they don't know what they are missing!

Now for the ones of you who are living vicariously through me, no worries there is a plan...

Yes there will be a little time where I temporarily will "take a break" from the farming Journey, it might be shorter though! But in no way is my journey even close to being over. It has only begun. The farm that I just started is my bunker, if things start going down hill in America.. well, this is a good place for me to be. I know the locals, we are a tight, well armed, small community, and we will band together if things ever go downhill, and I know they will "let me in" if times are bad. But the economy around here sucks, even if people wanted the massage, they really can't afford one (I can only do so many trades for goods, but goods don't pay the college loans and put gas in the truck)

So my next journey is still "in the works" but there is a great possibility that another friend will need a hand in starting up another homestead, and this one he is trying to keep around 2 hours away from Virginia Beach or shorter in distance since he would still be working in Hampton Roads. That means, I could work on the farm and also do massage at the same time a few days a week in Virginia Beach. Also, if he and his wife are up for it, might try to start a real small C.S.A. Veggie Grow-op.... but, I do not want to get ahead of myself, so unfortunately this part of the story has to be paused, but it will be revisited as soon as more information is available. Hey, I gotta keep you on your toes right?

So what now? Well, I am not going to be home in Virginia Beach until late September, so I still have a while on the farm, I plan on starting to schedule up massage clients starting early October, and hope to be helping out on the new homestead as soon as possible. I am already packing a little bit day by day as I am trying to be more methodical this time around in my packing. The trip out here with the trailer last time was harrowing, though I feel I grew from it, we shall see what happens this time around. Give me a few more days and I hope to get the pictures rolling again, sorry for the delay in posts... that is not cool Big Dave... and I'm truly sorry to my audience for that. And Ill get a regular non-life changing post put up in the next day or two. :)

Real quick mini regular update though... My neighbors chickens laid their first two eggs yesterday and today! The race is on for my chickens to start popping them out! (my neighbors chickens are about five weeks older than mine... but MY Chickens are filled with love!) My chickens will start early, and produce often... I just know it!

This probably wasn't the update most of you were expecting, to be honest, I didn't know I was going to write it tonight, I knew this one was coming, just didn't know when to fill ya in! Consider yourselves filled! Guess tonight was as good as any!

Frugal fence gate complete!!

FINALLY DONE!

I actually finished this two days ago, but wanted to move some rocks around the posts and along the bottom part of the fence where the ground dips below the bottom of the gate before I took some pictures and updated this thing.

That is what 140 pounds of instant concrete looks like.

That post is 9 inches wide. That hole was turning into a pit!

This was a really challenging project. One thing after another kept going wrong. (story of my life right?) The holes were the biggest issue, with the arm sized boulders I kept running into and having to dig out. That took the simple act of digging a hole to a full out orchestration of sweat, pick ax, auger, shovel and pure determination to get the hole dug. After piddling here and there on one hole in particular for a handful of days, coming by and swinging the pick ax at it for a few minutes while going in to feed the goats or hang with the chickens, I finally got the hole deep enough to put the left post in. Only problem now was that the hole diameter was HUGE from all the "other digging" I had to do to get the rocks out. My simple and awesome way to tackle that problem? 2 bags of cement (140 pounds worth), instead of 1. The foot print of the cement with the dirt and rock that covers it equals one safe bet... this post will go no-where for many years to come. Don't hit it with your car, 'cause it will dent your car and laugh at it... Seriously. 

The wrapping of the hinge around the post.

Now that the post was set in cement, I attached the fence to it, and then added the left part of the gate. While the cement "set", the post "slid" about an inch further away from the other post than I intended, no big deal, just makes it so the two gates don't "kiss" each other as closely. I wanted them to be really close, but mother nature said other wise. Luckily though, I was able to mount the hardware in such a way, it shortens the gap a bit and it doesn't make it a problem. The hardware was another issue, the hinge, I had to use backwards with the long part of the hinge going on the post, instead of on the panel. Because the way I made the gate panel, it wouldn't allow me to mount the hinge on correctly, that's called learning! At first, I was sweating it a bit, then realized that with some cold forging, I could "wrap" the hing around the post and make the hinge even more bad ass and custom (see picture for reference). I really don't see these hinges falling off anytime soon. lol. And after it was all said and done, I think it just looks too cool and more functional than it would have been before hand.

Gate is a little buck toothed. Don't stare, she is self conscious!

Adding a wall of rock as filler under the large gate panel.

After I mounted all the hardware, and leveled out the ground under the gate so when it swings it doesn't hit any rocks or dirt, I landscaped a bit so the gate blends more into the natural surrounding. I used rocks that I dug up and some of the existing rocks that laid on the ground around it. The biggest challenge that was left was filling the gap between the bottom panel and the ground on the left hand side. Most people might ask... "Dave, why didn't you just level the ground so the gate would lay flat?" Seems like a logical and fair enough question. I had plans to do just that, and if you see the ground, I did quite a bit of leveling and razing the ground to help with this dilemma, but then I ran into a boulder, that is not small... I'm talking about half the size of me... right under the end of the six foot panel. so, yeah, that is where I made the ground start... right at the top of that boulder, because there just was no way, even with help, without an excavator, I would not have been able to get that boulder out. So, with that said, there was a six inch gap under the right side of the six foot panel. So, I took rocks and gravel and some dirt and made a little "speed bump" that you would drive over in case you ever take a truck through the gate, which I feel will be really seldom... but always good to have the width in case you ever need it.

I made a 10 foot wide gate! I am awesome! :P

Overall, I rank this particular project in "cool value" right under the chicken coop. Again, other than the hardware (which I would have forged myself if I had a blacksmith station...lol) Everything was made from scratch, no plans, no purchasing of any other material... just one frugal, free, awesome, heavy duty gate. Each panel is only six pieces of wood... but has 45 plus screws holding them together... overkill, maybe, but I don't want it falling apart anytime soon. All I can say, is that I am really glad to have this project crossed off my list, a lot of sweat, a few blisters and even some blood went into this thing, and it is now a nice center piece of the yard and tie the barn yard all together! Now I can finally take an updated "before and after" of the barn yard, so be looking for that post soon! Till next time!

Come on in!

Right panel locks into rock. Sturdy sturdy sturdy!

Smile!

Yep, that's right, Ford Escort (maybe) lifted with 33" tires... welcome to Arkansas!

BTW:- New Gun works! 3 shots 35-40ft away. Look at that pellet grouping!! LOVE THIS THING!

5 shot rapid fire 35-40 ft away! (wind blew the sheet up on one shot, that's why the pellet holes are elongated)

Smile some more!