Sunday, November 1, 2015

November 1, 2015

Today is going to be a quiet day. I am going to have to start writing more often again, as these last months with Grandma so ill have thrown me off-kilter pretty badly. Everything but work and housekeeping have suffered.

So things have been progressing on the homestead. I am now down to living in one room essentially. Three if you count the kitchen and bathroom as well. Heat is primarily off-grid now, with the addition of a kerosene heater. The floor in the master bedroom has developed a rather bad soft spot due to the neglect of the prior resident, to the point that the plywood floorboard has a bad soft spot with a serious crack in it. Step on that too much and I will likely go right through the floor. Thus, the three bedrooms are primarily storage now, which is fine. I don't have much I need available day-to-day, and it is now all consolidated into the living room for daily living (bed, small dresser, entertainment, water storage cabinet), the kitchen has the usual, and the bathroom ... well, we all know what goes on there, haha.

A small propane heater which works on the one-pound canisters heats up the bathroom for showers quite well. It is a bit chilly with that end closed off for "those" kinds of things, but as I am only in there for a few minutes at a time, it is no big deal.

The woodpile is getting higher a bit at a time, though I am reduced to what I can get with axe and saw for now. My little battery-operated chainsaw bit the dust and I have no one available to take down the really big stuff for now. But at least a lot of small stuff still burns and makes for a nice pile.

A storm/whole house generator has been put on layaway at a local pawn shop, with the goal to have it out and up here by Yuletide, before the deepest part of winter sets in. I can then entirely rid myself of the electric company and THAT bill, saving an average of $100 a month. With that, I can easily get a manual log-splitter, a new sewing machine that I desperately need, and a new chainsaw which I now desperately need. Once I can also add a smaller generator, I can add a decent-sized electric chainsaw which can run off the generator, and take down bigger trees myself for firewood, with the eventual addition of a woodstove.

The house is being prepped for winter. Those cheap $8 raschel plush throws make pretty and warm tapestries to go over the leaky windows. They block a lot of light, but light is not a worry. Keeping warm is. The cats don't seem to mind at all. They are all curled up all over the place, mostly on the bed and the top of the entertainment center.

The garden is pretty well done for the year. The house tomatoes are still going strong, blooming well and loaded with ripening fruits, but it will not be long before they are through for the year. The needlework is coming along, and now that I will have a bit more time on the weekends, with cooler weather setting in, I should do better on progress.

The store is doing well, as I switched to Bonanza for a sales platform. (You can check it out in the favorite links.) I will likely go with a webstore/booth combination through them after the start of the new year, but until then, the booth alone is doing pretty decently. I have had more sales there than I did with Etsy (which was ZERO in two years), and in only a couple of months. Lots of new things are going up, mostly premade, because with having to work, I simply do not have the time I need to make everything. It is all nice, but I do wish I had more free time.

So all is well, and hopefully, I can get back to doing more writing more often. Wish me luck!

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