Tonight I just want to make a journal entry, rather than a blog post on one of the blogs. I have started writing Dispatches From the Farm as letters to and old friend, which has helped in getting a post out now and then because it makes me feel like I have been writing something to someone. These Journal entries here are more like letters written to myself, and that is easy enough for me. Dispatches started out in a mindset of writing something akin to a Laura Engles story or a Tales From Lake Woebegone. And while I’d like to give such personalities, I don’t want to cross lines of privacy with the people around me. So, I keep it mostly about me, and on the farm.
Another failed aspect of Dispatches and all of my blogs, really, has been images. It turned out to be a technical issue that had no resolution till I happened on a setting in the application I use on my Android that was preventing me from posting photos. I adjusted the resolution down, and next thing you know…
…our lives on the farm are in living color! And that is pretty exciting!
Our second child, Dylan, announced on Independence Day that he is moving out and moving in with his girlfriend into a house they will be renting in town for $1,000 a month (which is really high for town, and for a place in need of as much work as they say this place is). Then, after two years of perfect payments, the owner will finance the house to them as a sale. It will cost enough of their income that they have to rent a room or two out to friends. Of course we have advised against it, but this is advice given to the guy who spends more than half his monthly income on a car he bought on loan without telling us he was doing it. And they had already put the money on the house by the time they told us.
They are running tight on money, and testing friendships in ways they never have before. They are much braver than I am.
So, with just us and the girls at home after this week, there will be some room changes going on. No charge expected on how much we talk to Dylan, because he never says boo to us anyhow. We have not existed for him since he was what, six? The girls will move into the room the boys had, after freshening it up, and the rooms the girls and we are in will be used as a suite, which is great because they have to walk through our room to get to theirs anyhow. We will put our bedroom into their current room, then make our current bedroom into a sitting room, complete with hide-a-bed to convert it into a guest room when required. I’ll put in a sink and coffee station, and maybe we will round up a viewscreen for movies and such. The seating will make for a nice place for bedtime stories! And there is a balcony with full sliding glass for a great view, and a cozy hangout to watch snowfall on winter evenings.
Katrina has worked out a deal with a friend of Jordan’s to buy a truck off her. It is an ’82 Ford F150. Jordan thinks the engine is a 351, making it the little brother to the engine in my truck. That will give us two trucks to get firewood with, or hay, or haul a trailer with, or whatever. It should make a good animal getter too when we find something to buy. It has two fuel tanks, making it potentially better for those long trips. My folks had a van with the same engine and fueltank setup when I was learning to drive. It was good. Katrina is excited that it is four wheel drive and has an automatic transmission. It has a hitch reliever, so we will have to set her up with a hitch ball. That won’t be a problem! It may be a lot better for getting firewood with than my truck stands to be. And, she can paint the her logo on it. Mine can have the farm logo on it without guilt!
Well, it is bedtime. Our three year old is in our bed tonight. She has been sleeping on our bedroom floor, which was progress…