Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Weekend Update

This weekend has been pretty productive.  Friday, I drove to Oklahoma City to pick up Joe from the terminal early in the morning.  Unfortuntely, I only had about 3 hours of sleep the night before.  I got there okay.  I guess the excitement of bringing Joe home for the week over rode any tiredness.  We had to wait for awhile before leaving.  Joe had to go through the processes of signing off a student.  It was abit more complicated this time as the student failed his post-training driving test.  He was assigned another trainer for 2 more weeks of training to see  if he can improve.  By the time we left the terminal it was after 12noon.  By the time we got all our running round and shopping done at the health food store, it was late afternoon before we were heading home. 

Saturday, I was pretty worn out still from being out in the heat so much on Friday.  I ended up taking a nap while Joe and Abbie used the riding mower to mow part of the field.  Joe likes to mow a path that we can take walks on and have access to berry patches and such.  Later in the late afternoon, we dropped Abbie off at his parents to go and visit with the couple we buy goat milk from.  We are wanting to buy a couple of goats from them in the early spring.  We ended up staying there for awhile longer than expected, then had to go and get some wasp traps to try and get rid of some of the red wasps.  By the time we picked up Abbie and drove home, it was after dark.

As we approached our driveway, we saw a very large animal in our headlights.  It looked our way and we saw the eye shine.  We suspect it was one of the large cats (cougars) in our area that has been attacking and killing neighbors' goats and turkeys.  It was coming from our property.  Joe and I were concerned because the ewe and goat were still out in the yard grazing.  We got home, half expecting to find one of them killed.  When we arrived, I heard both of them vocalizing.  Cloe, our dwarf nubian goat came up to the house and tried to come in the front door.  We got Abbie settled in bed for the night and then took the girls, with some feed, up to their stable.  Joe and I went together as now that we know the cougar is this close to our home, we don't deem it safe to go outside away from the house at night.  What a blessing that the Lord watched over our animals while we were gone.

After getting the girls settled in the stable & us getting back in the house, we found a couple of phone messages from a driver wanting to be Joe's co-driver.  Joe called him right away and made arrangements to bring him out to our home for a BBQ so that we all had the afternoon to talk and get to know one another.  This driver is fairly new to trucking.  He has had a co-driver before but had problems getting along together after some time.  He needs help with his backing to a dock and the paperwork (trip planning), but he is otherwise competent to drive without alot of help.  One of the things that I like is that he is 50 yrs old, old enough to not be too arrogant to ask for help if he needs it.  He knows his limitations and is wanting Joe's help in overcoming them.

Joe and I both feel good about him being Joe's co-driver.  So, when Joe goes back on the truck Friday, he will have someone to start driving with.  We are hoping that it works out well.  If this guy is being up front with us, it should work out.  He seems to have a great attitude and a wonderful sense of humor.  Both are things that Joe finds important since they will spend so much time together in the truck. 

We found out that the guy is wanting to homestead, taking it a step further than us and living off-grid.  He is a "city boy" so was asking alot of questions.  He is genuinely interested in learning about the benefits and also to challenges of homesteading.

All in all, we feel the weekend was productive.  Having found Joe a co-driver so soon means that he won't have to be worrying about it the rest of his time home.  I am thrilled to have met the new co-driver.  I feel good about it.  I trust that he will be safe and not be one to take risks with his driving that could put Joe's (and his own) safety at risk.   

In other news, the garden is still producing, though the squash production is starting to taper off.  I am going to finish up this week in getting the fall plants in the ground.  If we havea mild autumn, I should be able to grow quite a bit of vegetables.  I am planting  green beans, green peas, wax beans, pumpkin, cucumbers, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, and more acorn squash.  I am also starting a small indoor herb garden in my kitchen window.  In the winter, I will start herb seeds indoors and plant them in the garden in the spring.

We are thinking of combining gardens with Joe's parents.  I talked to Mom about it.  Since we are expanding our garden to triple the space used this year, there will be more than enough space to grow for both us amd Joe's parents.  Also, will have produce to sell is all goes well.