Turning the Corner--Four Months Later

If I go up the road to the north, and turn left at the first intersection, I am on Blacksmith Road.

There is no blacksmith.

I need to find someone to tell me the story on a lot of things around here. Like where the blacksmith lived, when there was a blacksmith, and where he

So much time has past.

For us, it's only been four months.

You can tell when you drive around here that a lot of things have changed.  Many, many people have moved on, in one way or another.  The original settlers built beautiful homesteads.  Lots of buildings, big and small.  So many of them still stand...some but barely.

The going is tough.  If you check the demographics, people here are working hard and not making a very good living.  But they keep on trying.  They are creative about how to make money, and how to feed their families. They have gardens, raise many kinds of livestock, horses,

and Jesus donkeys....

ducks, geese, guineas, and have beehives.   I suspect that people around here have helped restart the pheasant and turkey populations.

girl pheasant sneaking up to our bird feeder--she has camouflage

he thinks he has good camouflage

or if he stands still, I won't see him

 People feed deer, sometimes so they can look at them,

boy deer

girl deer

they spend most of the night in our yard, mom and baby

but mostly so they have a healthy population to hunt.  There is one farm I enjoy driving by that has lots of fenced in areas that they move around, almost daily, in order to get fresh grazing areas for pigs, chickens and goats, and various other small animals.  They also have a big white dog, who, I assume, protects everything from the various predators that roam the area.  I think she is a Maremma, like our friend Sadie, here.

I would love to have chickens someday, and a big white dog like Sadie.  But that is down the road a ways, and around a few corners, too.  I have many many acres I could use for growing stuff at our camp, and also a smallish fenced in garden here in Paynesville, that has been totally taken over by the prairie.  We planted some asparagus plants at our camp, because that's a crop that seems to take time to establish.

We have time.

I guess.

If you know me, or have read this blog, you know I'm not patient. And even though we've accomplished a lot in four months, we have a lot to do.

But I think we've turned a corner.  This has been a good week.

Bob even felt lucky enough to buy a lottery ticket.  

Some of the happy things that have occurred this week is that Bob is now, finally, a real attorney in the state of Michigan.  The judge who swore him in yesterday even gave him his first case here.

I have a new piano student.  He is 60-something. His name is Ed. I can't wait to work with him.

Bob has been subbing at Ewen-Trout Creek.  Really.  Today he was the PE teacher. Unfortunately, he only got to work with the older kids today, not the costume-wearing-amped-on-Halloween-candy little ones I saw running about.

I have been working in the shop.  I have composed three piano pieces inspired by the weather. Really.

I've also stocked up on my favorite to make, quirky crocheted item, my soon-to-be-famous-and-worn -by-EVERYONE-who-is-SOMEONE-armwarmers.

I have four kinds of soap for sale, that I think smell DELICIOUS.

cucumber oak, chocolate coffee, macintosh apple, shave and a haircut

I've started printing greeting cards with my favorite bird characters on them.

find the non-bird

AND, this week, I became a professional author.  Really.  Check out http://pioneersettler.com/how-to-crochet-scarf-no-pattern/  If you want.  I even got paid (which I know you know, since I said professional).

I also got two checks in the mail this week I didn't expect.

And I bought new boots, so I can make it through the drifts this winter. Because I LOVE winter :)

I should have other good news to report in my next post as well.

Whew.  I feel better.

Hopefully, turning this corner means things will get a little easier around here. Or else I may just have to start raising chickens.  Or become a blacksmith, if Bob doesn't beat me to it.