2019 has been a pretty good year over-all. Where required, I have been trying to keep sane, and where not required, I have tried to let the craziness go on its way. We have got quite a few tools that are a help on the farm, and make it easier to care for the place. Those include a log-splitter on the last day of last year, a new fridge not long before that, a riding lawn tractor this year, as well as a large garden tiller, a small one, and a wheel hoe for taking care of the weeds. I got a small chainsaw to help with the firewood cutting. Basically, a lot has been done to make it possible to keep up with the work that we need to do on a place this size. Next trick is to pay it all off.
Apart from the occasional check-in, I have spent the whole of the year off Facebook. That has freed up a lot of my time and helped me to refocus on just who I am and what I am all about. For 2020 I plan to develop that a great deal further. I can soundly say that I really do love people, and I love being able to spend time chatting with them. However… I am getting pretty damn old, and don’t have time for a lot of it, given what I still want to do in life.
So what are all of these glorious and wonderful things? Well, for me it’s personal, and for anyone outside of my family who is reading this blog, it doesn’t matter. So, we’ll just say it is 42. That’s right. I am going to 42. I am going to 42 for most of the year as soon as I can get set up for it. I am already off to a start. Once I have got the rest of what’s required, I am going to 42 away as often as I can till I perfect my skills at it. Be it woodworking, or playing the banjo, or gardening, I plan to get at it, and do it well.
Alas! This is meant to be a year in review, not a plan for the coming year. As it turns out, the past is not a place to live, and I have shared on this blog all the great and wonderful highlights I wanted to already. I shared them when they were fresh and exciting. Actually I have not been sharing much at all. And all that lack of sharing ties into a desperate need of a change in attitude on my part. Perhaps that will also be in my plan for 2020.
Right, I think that the worst part of the year came when I had to arrange to have a horse put down. AS always with these things, I am not one to arrange it and leave it to someone else to just do. I was there for it and was a part of it. It’s only the right thing to do.
The best part of this year was most of the rest of it, including home-schooling our daughters, and culminating in Christmas with our close family. I admit I have shut off to much of the world beyond them, and I have been largely glad to do so. Face it, Missus and the kids are what matters most to me.
It is stunning to think that we are in 2019, and it is about to end. I remember in my childhood, wondering if I would live to see the year 2,000. Well, wonder no more! Two decades the other side of it I am at a loss for how to describe the passing of time.
At the start of the year we had to hire a plumber to fix a pipe that froze in the basement and broke. In October I installed a door and frame with help from a good man who lives down the street. I have put in a new toilette, and I put in a new drain for the washing machine. I have also repaired the washing machine twice, and all that was done with the help of my sister-in-law with her “let’s get to it” attitude. I made shiplap from fence pickets and decorated the bathroom wall. It has al felt a lot like adulting. It has also been inexpensive independence. That was a feat achieved again when it was time to do the usual chimney cleaning, and I upped on the roof and did that.
The year has had its accomplishments. But I think the most defining moment came when I was at the home store to pick up the new door for the balcony, and I confessed to a friend who works there that I was nervous about doing it, as I had never done such a thing. She replied, “Well, that’s never stopped you before.” That put me instantly at ease. She was right. So I plodded on through it and finished the installation by the next day, caulking included. No, it didn’t go as fast as it could have. But the door and frame did go in, and now we can stand in front of it and be as warm there as in any other part of the room, as there are no draughts breaking through on that wall at all. It was a total success.
It was also achievable, and a small enough thing to do. That is something I would like to keep in mind!
As long as I remember the successes and lessons of 2019, I think 2020 and beyond hold great potential. So, to close this post, and to close the year, let me wish you well, and let me wish you every happiness and success in the New Year. If you ever feel like a kid just bumbling along in an adults body, don’t worry, I do too. We are all in over our heads. But luckily that has never stopped us before.
Bon Voyage, 2019. You have been a good enough year.
Kelsey J Bacon
Written at The Peasant’s Manor Farm in Fairview, Idaho. My Home.