Sometimes I wonder if the path I tramped into the soil between 8811 Old Homestead and 8814 Eden Valley back in the old Pleasant Grove neighbor hood of Dallas is still there. I’d learned early on that the cookie Mom would deny me at home on Old Homestead could be had with just a quick trip up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Eden Valley. During the long hot summers of childhood, that path would lead to where I could nip into Grandma’s kitchen to snatch the salt shaker before raiding the cherry tomato patch Grandpa always planted.
At least once a week, my Mom’s feet would join mine on that path as we went to Grandma’s house to do the weekly washing using the old time washer kept outside just below Grandma’s kitchen window. Mine, and all the ladies clothes were washed separately with the under clothes. To save money the men’s work clothes were brought home to be laundered separately, then ironed.
Oh, how I wanted to help. But adult caution kept me away from that fascinating machinery.
“No, you may NOT put the clothes through the wringer!” Mom would yelp when I asked. “That thing could squash your fingers clean off!”
“Not if I didn’t let my fingers get caught!” I would mutter as I angrily stalked of to sooth my hurt feelings with one of Grandma’s Vanilla Wafers.
Where there is a washer there must be a clothesline. Grandma and Grandpa owned a full half acre on Eden Valley, so Grandpa and Dad had built a huge clothesline. There were three upright old telephone poles with metal and wood cross pieces, which held up four thick wire lines. These lines stretched east / west across my path up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. With no trees over the lines, any clothes hung on them could get sun all day. The access to sun all day was important on cool or damp days when it took more time than in the hot, dry summer for the clothes to dry.
As I grew taller, I found myself hauling clothes that Mom had washed at home up to that clothesline and wearing that path just a little deeper. After Grandpa died, my feet compressed it deeper still going up to Grandma’s house to get the washing she needed done, and taking it down to our house where Mom would wash it in her newer style washer and dryer. Then, the clothes crisply dry from the dryer and folded, I’d haul them back up to Grandma’s along that same path that went under the now seldom used clothesline.
By the time I entered college, the path was worn so deep it was still there whenever I came home from school on holidays. It was just part of home, the quickest route up to check on Grandma or visit with relatives who came to visit.
After earning a BS, then four years in the Army, and a failed attempt at setting up a soil analysis business in Kentucky, my old course along that path was reversed. It was 1977 and my uncles were paying me to be live-in care for Grandma. I was saving the money so I could go back for a master's degree. I had to go down and visit Mom and Dad occasionally, just to keep in touch. I was an only child after all.
It was a good thing that path was still there when I came home in the spring of ’82 for my father’s and then my grandmother’s funeral as grief hung over me like a dark cloud. I moved on automatic between the two houses during the family gatherings centered on these two tragedies. Even after leaving ET for the last time that year with a brand new master's degree I felt surrounded by loss, by death. Despite that I bought out my Uncle Wayne’s share of Grandma’s land.
Then came the yuppies; the ones who cared not a whit for the land, the neighborhood, or the people who lived there.
“Hey! Hi, there! My name’s Muffie! My husband and I bought a lot just down the street and a block over from here! We’re getting up this petition to change the ordinances to keep farm animals and large dogs out of the neighborhood. We’d like you to sign it!” The woman said perkily after I stopped mowing and came over to see what she wanted.
“What do you mean by farm animals?” I asked, leaning on the wide double gate across my driveway. The gate kept in my big dog and my horse as well as my roomy',s big dog. Hopefully, it would keep other dogs out as I was thinking of getting some more chickens.
“Oh, you know,” she grinned, “The smelly and noisy ones like chickens, goats and horses.” Her face showed her revulsion. “And those horrible big dogs! They can get out so easily and frighten people! Not to mention the loud barking!”
I looked her up and down. She was dressed in the highest fashion. Right down to the high heels wobbling on my gravel driveway. Her big fancy car was parked right at the end of it. I hadn’t been paying attention while I was mowing but I suspected she’d driven from the house next door. I turned toward the half acre of my grandparents land I’d just finished paying off, and whistled a couple of loud notes sure to attract every beast I had that connected the sound to food before turning back to the yuppie.
“Why?” I asked as I turned back. “Why no animals like that?”
“Why, because they lower property values! We’ll never get the property in this neighborhood up to a decent value with all these farm animals around.” She continued, though obviously curious about why I'd whistled like that.
“Now why would we want the property values to go up?” I asked reasonably, as my, and my roomy's big dog loped up in answer to my whistle. “You do know that’d just cause the taxes to go up even further, don’t you?”
“B-but,” she stammered as my horse came out of the shade of the small bunch of trees behind me, and her eyes widened even further than the appearance of the dogs had caused. “T-then you could sell your property for more?”
“But not enough to buy anything where we could keep our critters,” I pointed out. “Not here in Dallas. And some of us old timers here might not want to move. So you just keep that silly petition. I hope to hell no one else is dumb enough to sign it. Bye.” I turned from her and walked back to the house to make a glass of lemonade. I almost started crying as I sat in the shade of a tree I’d ‘helped’ grandpa plant beside the driveway, and drank my ice cold lemonade. I knew that yuppie was just the first salvo of change . . . a change I couldn’t stop.
That path and the clothesline were still there when I sold out and moved to Lone Oak. I don’t know if the yuppies got their silly petition passed. I do know that the city tore up the creek where I’d learned the basics of geology from my dad. Then the police helicopters started shattering the night with their low flying whup whup whup and the bright light they carried while looking for the drug dealers who were hiding out the creek. The stolen car found abandoned there was the last straw. The big city was oozing out to envelop me, my animals, and my land. The only things I could pick up and move to safety were myself and my beasts.
I found a place. It took all the money my parents had saved up and left to me plus most of what I managed to get for the land and two houses I had inherited and bought. I, and my roomy, with the help of some relatives who really couldn’t understand my need to leave, loaded up a borrowed box trailer, a two-horse trailer, and the back of my pickup truck before pulling out one warm day in February of ‘85. We headed for Lone Oak and a life far from the problems of the big city.
For me that move was as if there had been a final death in the family. I had hoped to live out my life on that land. I had had no other plans.
The clothesline is surely gone by now, the land divided up into at least three lots, maybe more, with “little houses made of ticky tacky” built on them. Perhaps even the path is gone.
Yet, in a way that foot path goes on. I’m wearing extensions of it on the twelve plus acres I bought here in Lone Oak. Paths I’m wearing on land I bought with money left to me by my parents and from the sell of the land I‘d inherited; land I’d worn that old path on. So, perhaps Tolkien was right. The path does “go ever on” from the place where it begins.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Path, a memory
The folks who live there in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas now might wonder how it came to be. That little narrow foot path between the northwest corner of the back fence of 8811 Old Homestead, and the back door of 8814 Eden Valley. I know exactly how it came to into being. You see, my feet wore it there.
There was the daily tramp from where I lived with my Mom and Dad up to where my Grandma and Grandpa lived. It was a daily exercise as I had quickly learned that if Mom said I couldn’t have a cookie, that little walk up to Grandma’s house would place one in my grimy little hands. Of course during the long hot summers of childhood, I could always nip into Grandma’s kitchen and snatch the salt shaker before raiding the cherry tomato patch that Grandpa always planted.
As I grew older, I began to notice that those big folks around me often did some interesting things. Most fascinating to me at the time was washing clothes. You see, Grandma had this wonderful thing called a washing machine. It was old fashioned by today’s standards and could safely be left out in the weather so it was never necessary to build a shelter around it.
At least once a week, my Mom’s feet would join mine on that path as we went to Grandma’s house to do the weekly washing. Mine, and all the ladie's clothes were washed separately with the under clothes. The men’s work clothes, despite being uniforms supplied by the company, were brought home to be laundered separately, and ironed.
In conjunction with the washing machine, there was the clothesline. Grandma and Grandpa owned a full half acre, so Grandpa and Dad had room to build a truly huge clothesline. There were three upright old telephone poles with metal and wood cross pieces. Those cross pieces held up four thick wire lines. These lines stretched east and west across my path up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. With no trees over the lines, any clothes hung on them could get sun all day. This arrangement was important in the winter, or on damp days when it took more than the summertime thirty minutes for the cloths to dry.
Later I found myself hauling clothes that Mom had washed at home up to that clothesline, and wearing that path just a little deeper. Later I pounded it deeper still going up to Grandma’s house to get the washing she needed done and taking it down to our house where Mom would wash it in her newer style washer; one that had to stay inside the house. Then, the clothes crisply dry from the dryer and folded, I’d haul them back up to Grandma’s along that same path that went under the old clothesline. That path and the clothesline were still there when I sold, what was by then my property, and moved to Lone Oak. The clothesline is surely gone by now. But I’m sure it would take some work to remove that foot path.
There was the daily tramp from where I lived with my Mom and Dad up to where my Grandma and Grandpa lived. It was a daily exercise as I had quickly learned that if Mom said I couldn’t have a cookie, that little walk up to Grandma’s house would place one in my grimy little hands. Of course during the long hot summers of childhood, I could always nip into Grandma’s kitchen and snatch the salt shaker before raiding the cherry tomato patch that Grandpa always planted.
As I grew older, I began to notice that those big folks around me often did some interesting things. Most fascinating to me at the time was washing clothes. You see, Grandma had this wonderful thing called a washing machine. It was old fashioned by today’s standards and could safely be left out in the weather so it was never necessary to build a shelter around it.
At least once a week, my Mom’s feet would join mine on that path as we went to Grandma’s house to do the weekly washing. Mine, and all the ladie's clothes were washed separately with the under clothes. The men’s work clothes, despite being uniforms supplied by the company, were brought home to be laundered separately, and ironed.
In conjunction with the washing machine, there was the clothesline. Grandma and Grandpa owned a full half acre, so Grandpa and Dad had room to build a truly huge clothesline. There were three upright old telephone poles with metal and wood cross pieces. Those cross pieces held up four thick wire lines. These lines stretched east and west across my path up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. With no trees over the lines, any clothes hung on them could get sun all day. This arrangement was important in the winter, or on damp days when it took more than the summertime thirty minutes for the cloths to dry.
Later I found myself hauling clothes that Mom had washed at home up to that clothesline, and wearing that path just a little deeper. Later I pounded it deeper still going up to Grandma’s house to get the washing she needed done and taking it down to our house where Mom would wash it in her newer style washer; one that had to stay inside the house. Then, the clothes crisply dry from the dryer and folded, I’d haul them back up to Grandma’s along that same path that went under the old clothesline. That path and the clothesline were still there when I sold, what was by then my property, and moved to Lone Oak. The clothesline is surely gone by now. But I’m sure it would take some work to remove that foot path.
Monday, January 31, 2011
New Blog
Hey, all!
I've got a new blog up and running, in case you are interested. It is mostly old and new Alternative Opinion articles that have been published in the Lone Oak Newsletter.
I usually edit them some more before I post them, trying to make them more blog-ish.
The address of this new blog is www.arurualpointofview.blogspot.com Yeah, I know. Rural is totally misspelled, but I can't figure out how to fix it other than starting all over again and that is not an option. The actual title of the thing is 'A rural Point of View.' I've posted the last 4 or so Alt. Ops. that have been published as well as a couple of old ones from years back.
Go take a look.
Enjoy.
I've got a new blog up and running, in case you are interested. It is mostly old and new Alternative Opinion articles that have been published in the Lone Oak Newsletter.
I usually edit them some more before I post them, trying to make them more blog-ish.
The address of this new blog is www.arurualpointofview.blogspot.com Yeah, I know. Rural is totally misspelled, but I can't figure out how to fix it other than starting all over again and that is not an option. The actual title of the thing is 'A rural Point of View.' I've posted the last 4 or so Alt. Ops. that have been published as well as a couple of old ones from years back.
Go take a look.
Enjoy.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Plans, or: would you like some cheese with that whine?
Yeah. I know. It's still cold out there. Muddy, to. Down right yucky, in fact.
But. . ..
Even with the dreary weather I can tell that the day's are getting just a tad longer now that the winter solstice has passed. Once more my fingers are itching to dig into the dirt. I want to put some thing down around my little lasagna garden, and also from my front door to my mail box to make a nice walk way. All the idea's I’ve had involve cardboard, or feed sacks with lots of mulch on top.
I keep looking at the North East corner of my front yard. A place where the sun seldom shines except in early spring; and even in late fall, and winter, when the leaves are off the trees, that area only gets filtered sunlight. Oh, do I have plans for that area! But alas, I have little money. A nice little pond with a fountain in it, would be great there. Especially in the hot summer. Hostas and ferns tucked in around it would just add to the cooling cozy-ness of the area I think. Of course I’d also need some patio furniture and some kind of patio like stuff on the ground to keep what little grass and weeds grow there at bay or mow the place a lot.
There's an area out back that would work great as a vegetable garden. But I don't want to plow it up. There's just enough grade to it that plowing could cause the soil to erode faster than I could build it up. Once more I’m thinking of cardboard and feed sacks.
How can cardboard and feed sacks be of any use in a garden you may wonder. Here’s the plan. Use the feed sacks that are made of paper, cut off their bottoms and down each side. That will give me two sheets of just about the right size for a row of veggies, or I could just cut up cardboard boxes to the same width. I lay those down and top them off with some of the super well rotted stuff from my old manure pile. The rows I could lay out perpendicular to the natural flow of the water off of that area and back them up with bricks or some such on the down hill side.
The feed sacks that have more plastic in them, particularly those made with what looks like woven plastic strands, I can cut up the same way as the paper ones and use them between the veggie rows as a path way, maybe even cover them with some kind of mulch.
But what to plant? Obviously stuff I’d like to eat. Perhaps even stuff that I'd just like to see how it grows. I'd definitely like to also get some chickens as well as plants. Maybe some ducks to do garden duty. At least ducks wouldn't peck holes in my tomatoes.
I have goats so there's some more fertilizer for the garden, and if I do get some chickens that would be even more fertilizer.
So what have we got here? Plans for chickens, and ducks, and tomatoes, and corn, and beans, and bell peppers, and banana peppers, and okra, and potatoes, and lettuce, and cabbage, and ferns, and hostas, and. . ..
But, it's cold out there. It's wet out there. My knee hurts when I get up from working on the computer. I don't have the money for nearly half of what I'd have to buy. Stuff like mulch, and pool liners, and sand (if I built that little pool), not to mention the cost of chickens or ducks and what it would cost to fix up a place to keep them safe from varmints.
Sigh. I guess I'll do what I can and just keep dreaming about the rest. Oh, well. Such is life when you ain't rich.
But. . ..
Even with the dreary weather I can tell that the day's are getting just a tad longer now that the winter solstice has passed. Once more my fingers are itching to dig into the dirt. I want to put some thing down around my little lasagna garden, and also from my front door to my mail box to make a nice walk way. All the idea's I’ve had involve cardboard, or feed sacks with lots of mulch on top.
I keep looking at the North East corner of my front yard. A place where the sun seldom shines except in early spring; and even in late fall, and winter, when the leaves are off the trees, that area only gets filtered sunlight. Oh, do I have plans for that area! But alas, I have little money. A nice little pond with a fountain in it, would be great there. Especially in the hot summer. Hostas and ferns tucked in around it would just add to the cooling cozy-ness of the area I think. Of course I’d also need some patio furniture and some kind of patio like stuff on the ground to keep what little grass and weeds grow there at bay or mow the place a lot.
There's an area out back that would work great as a vegetable garden. But I don't want to plow it up. There's just enough grade to it that plowing could cause the soil to erode faster than I could build it up. Once more I’m thinking of cardboard and feed sacks.
How can cardboard and feed sacks be of any use in a garden you may wonder. Here’s the plan. Use the feed sacks that are made of paper, cut off their bottoms and down each side. That will give me two sheets of just about the right size for a row of veggies, or I could just cut up cardboard boxes to the same width. I lay those down and top them off with some of the super well rotted stuff from my old manure pile. The rows I could lay out perpendicular to the natural flow of the water off of that area and back them up with bricks or some such on the down hill side.
The feed sacks that have more plastic in them, particularly those made with what looks like woven plastic strands, I can cut up the same way as the paper ones and use them between the veggie rows as a path way, maybe even cover them with some kind of mulch.
But what to plant? Obviously stuff I’d like to eat. Perhaps even stuff that I'd just like to see how it grows. I'd definitely like to also get some chickens as well as plants. Maybe some ducks to do garden duty. At least ducks wouldn't peck holes in my tomatoes.
I have goats so there's some more fertilizer for the garden, and if I do get some chickens that would be even more fertilizer.
So what have we got here? Plans for chickens, and ducks, and tomatoes, and corn, and beans, and bell peppers, and banana peppers, and okra, and potatoes, and lettuce, and cabbage, and ferns, and hostas, and. . ..
But, it's cold out there. It's wet out there. My knee hurts when I get up from working on the computer. I don't have the money for nearly half of what I'd have to buy. Stuff like mulch, and pool liners, and sand (if I built that little pool), not to mention the cost of chickens or ducks and what it would cost to fix up a place to keep them safe from varmints.
Sigh. I guess I'll do what I can and just keep dreaming about the rest. Oh, well. Such is life when you ain't rich.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Annoucing My Newest Blog
Just so y'all will know I have a new blog where I am posting new and old copies of the "Alternative Opinion" article I write for the Lone Oak Newsletter.
I am editing them so that they will make sense as a blog as well as trying to make them make more sense generally. I'm even trying to fix the comma problems, but I somehow doubt I'm improving anything that way.
I'm also hoping that by editing some of the sentences and such that I'm just plain making them a better example of writing. I have been taking some writing classes after all, and wouldn't want to be embarrassed if, say, my instructor should wander into my blog-o-sphere.
Of course, I am also planning on contacting some agents and I definitely want to empress them. Who knows. Maybe I could actually get them to find someone who'd pay me for my writing!
Wouldn't that be cool!
My new blog can be found at www.arurualpointofview.blogspot.com Go check it out. Hope it entertains you. In one way or another.
I am editing them so that they will make sense as a blog as well as trying to make them make more sense generally. I'm even trying to fix the comma problems, but I somehow doubt I'm improving anything that way.
I'm also hoping that by editing some of the sentences and such that I'm just plain making them a better example of writing. I have been taking some writing classes after all, and wouldn't want to be embarrassed if, say, my instructor should wander into my blog-o-sphere.
Of course, I am also planning on contacting some agents and I definitely want to empress them. Who knows. Maybe I could actually get them to find someone who'd pay me for my writing!
Wouldn't that be cool!
My new blog can be found at www.arurualpointofview.blogspot.com Go check it out. Hope it entertains you. In one way or another.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Snow days
The weather man said it was going to snow. Boy did it snow! At least four inches. Maybe more here in Lone Oak. Sometimes I hate it when those guys are right.
I will not accuse my goats of being stupid again. At least not until they do something really dumb again. Why? They are staying in their little barn and waiting for me to bring them feed. I don't think they've even left to get water. Even after I broke the ice for them the ungrateful wretches.
It sure looks pretty out there. A regular post card. I only have a few problems with it: (1) It's cold. (2)Being a good ol' Texas gal, I am absolutely certain that ice is only supposed to occur in big ol' glasses of tea. (3)It's really cold out there. (4)Pretty postcard snow is supposed to come in pictures from Alaska, and other places where snow happens, not appear in my back and front yard! (5)It's especially not supposed to get all over my truck, or the roads, or otherwise make it hard to get places. I vote we send this white stuff back to Alaska or Cannada.
I blame global warming. It's messing up the weather patterns and causing ice to occur outside of tea glasses. It just ain't right.
I've started another blog. This one is called, uh, now what did I call the sucker? Oh, yeah, "A Rural Point of View." I'm posting my Alt Op article from the Lone Oak Newsletter in it. It's on blogger.com same as this one. I'm editing them again before I post them so they will hopefully make since to folks who arn't from Lone Oak.
I will not accuse my goats of being stupid again. At least not until they do something really dumb again. Why? They are staying in their little barn and waiting for me to bring them feed. I don't think they've even left to get water. Even after I broke the ice for them the ungrateful wretches.
It sure looks pretty out there. A regular post card. I only have a few problems with it: (1) It's cold. (2)Being a good ol' Texas gal, I am absolutely certain that ice is only supposed to occur in big ol' glasses of tea. (3)It's really cold out there. (4)Pretty postcard snow is supposed to come in pictures from Alaska, and other places where snow happens, not appear in my back and front yard! (5)It's especially not supposed to get all over my truck, or the roads, or otherwise make it hard to get places. I vote we send this white stuff back to Alaska or Cannada.
I blame global warming. It's messing up the weather patterns and causing ice to occur outside of tea glasses. It just ain't right.
I've started another blog. This one is called, uh, now what did I call the sucker? Oh, yeah, "A Rural Point of View." I'm posting my Alt Op article from the Lone Oak Newsletter in it. It's on blogger.com same as this one. I'm editing them again before I post them so they will hopefully make since to folks who arn't from Lone Oak.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Maunderings 1/1/11
Ok. Here’s what I’m thinking. About my land taxes and finances in general.
This coming Monday, 1/3/11, go to the bank and rip the money out of my IRA and stuff it into my savings account with the funds I’ve saved up to pay land taxes with. That will give me more than enough to draft out the cash I need to pay the land taxes. Especially as I’m only $120 away from having it already. That $120 won’t be taken out until the 15th however.
But with the taxes already paid I can instruct the bank to make the deposits to my savings from checking $140 starting with the one this month. That should give me a little over what I need to pay taxes next year. Even if I spend all of the IRA money (less the amount needed to finish off paying the land taxes, of course) that is left after uncle sugar gets his out of it.
Otherwise, I will have to have the bank pull $150 from my checking into my savings for next years taxes for the months of Feb. through Dec. just so I can have a little more than enough to pay the same amount again. That would give me the leeway of another full month (January) to get any extra on the tax bill into savings. Unless I’ve left almost every cent the government leaves me of that 21 thou in savings and not spent it, just so I can have that cushion against higher land taxes.
Oh, yeah. The bank will be getting a chunk of that IRA as well as I won’t be waiting until the 8th of March when it’s officially time to decide if I want to keep it there or roll it somewhere else.
But with the taxes already paid I can instruct the bank to make the deposits to my savings from checking $140 starting with the one this month. That should give me a little over what I need to pay taxes next year. Even if I spend all of the IRA money (less the amount needed to finish off paying the land taxes, of course) that is left after uncle sugar gets his out of it.
Otherwise, I will have to have the bank pull $150 from my checking into my savings for next years taxes for the months of Feb. through Dec. just so I can have a little more than enough to pay the same amount again. That would give me the leeway of another full month (January) to get any extra on the tax bill into savings. Unless I’ve left almost every cent the government leaves me of that 21 thou in savings and not spent it, just so I can have that cushion against higher land taxes.
Oh, yeah. The bank will be getting a chunk of that IRA as well as I won’t be waiting until the 8th of March when it’s officially time to decide if I want to keep it there or roll it somewhere else.
OR
I’m sure the bank would be much happier if I pulled $120 from my A-line account and used that to get the taxes paid earlier. It would take me about two months to pay that loan off. I could still have the bank up the amount going into savings to $140 this month so I could have the tax money saved up by Dec. I’d be pinched for the next two months but it’d work. Then I could wait until March 8th to rip that cash out of the IRA without having to pay the bank didely. I would only have to pay the IRS.
I’m thinking the last paragraph above is my best bet. Even if I decide to leave my IRA totally alone.
Now another question I need to answer.
Okay. Let’s say that I do rip that money out of my IRA come March 8th , knowing that it will be less because the gov. will get it’s share! What do I do with it. Why am I taking it out instead of adding to it like I am to my savings account?
Well, duh. I’m not adding to it as I am to my savings account because I just don’t have the bucks! Unless I win that PCH money between now and then! (HA!!)
Ummm. Another thought just intruded. What if I stashed the savings account money into the IRA then drew enough out of it to pay the gov. taxes on the IRA funds and the banks fee for early withdrawal of funds. Then told them to stash that $140 in the IRA instead of a savings account? Ummm. No. Probably would not increase my IRA’s earnings enough over the next year to make it worth it. Or would it? Guess I’ll have to ask the bank folks and hope they don’t finagle me.
Okay. Let’s just say I will get that cash out of the IRA. To what end?
I need a more reliable truck. Or some other kind of transport that can haul at least 6 bags of feed and a couple of square bales. I need a way to get out into my pasture, damn it! I haven’t been out there in at least 2 or 3 years!!
So that would be a good used truck or SUV and maybe an electric golf cart or gas guzzling 4 wheeler.
Could I profit from this? I see no particular profit in this idea other than making me feel better.
So that would be a good used truck or SUV and maybe an electric golf cart or gas guzzling 4 wheeler.
Could I profit from this? I see no particular profit in this idea other than making me feel better.
OR
Go back to college, to TAMU-C and get yet another degree. This time in Environmental Science. And go to those Permaculture classes in Ft. Worth. How would I USE that though. I’m sick of never using any of my degrees!! Sick of wasting the time and money used getting them. I’d still need a reliable ride and maybe DSL to take those on line courses I’d likely have to have.
How could I profit from this? I could agitate for a Permaculture course to be taught at TAMU-C or at one of the nearer Jr. Colleges with me as the instructor. If I were officially and legally a Permaculturalist (?) I could teach classes in it here in Hunt County, or actually do design work as a Permaculture designer (or whatever they are called), and be paid for it. I could offer my services to Lone Oak at a reduced rate. I could also maybe apply the Permaculture stuff to my place in a more rational and organized manner (with better knowledge of what to actually do), and thus reduce what I have to pay for power, food and water. Becoming more sustainable and independent myself.
How could I profit from this? I could agitate for a Permaculture course to be taught at TAMU-C or at one of the nearer Jr. Colleges with me as the instructor. If I were officially and legally a Permaculturalist (?) I could teach classes in it here in Hunt County, or actually do design work as a Permaculture designer (or whatever they are called), and be paid for it. I could offer my services to Lone Oak at a reduced rate. I could also maybe apply the Permaculture stuff to my place in a more rational and organized manner (with better knowledge of what to actually do), and thus reduce what I have to pay for power, food and water. Becoming more sustainable and independent myself.
OR
I could just haul off and do what I presently see as what needs to be done to my place to make it sustainable with that money. I could put a metal roof on the house with a rain water collection system added to it. I could top that with some solar panels and a small windmill out between the barns. There would of course be rain water collection systems put in place on every metal roof on my land. Ummm. Might not have quite enough for all of that.
Where would I profit from this? Save money on water/sewer bill. Maybe, if I demonstrate that I have pared down to zero trash I can get out of paying the garbage pick up. I’d Grow a lot of my own food and thus not have to spend money for it. I’d also slash at least some off of my power bill
Where would I profit from this? Save money on water/sewer bill. Maybe, if I demonstrate that I have pared down to zero trash I can get out of paying the garbage pick up. I’d Grow a lot of my own food and thus not have to spend money for it. I’d also slash at least some off of my power bill
OR
I could just chuck it all and go on a cruse or a trip to somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. Maybe buy a Motor home and go to all of the National Parks I’ve always wanted to see. Taking along a lot of empty canvases and full pant bottles with more than enough paint brushes, etc. Who knows. Maybe I could sell what I painted. I’d certainly have to do something with them as I have no freaking place to store them.
OR
I could decide to really go big into the goat biz. Buy electric fencing that I can move easily, along with equally mobile watering/feeding troughs, and shelters (igloo dog houses?), and start advertising to “clear your overgrown, brushy, bramble ridden land and organically fertilize it in one week to one month depending on the size of the land.” Then where ever the land is, I go out, set up the electric fence around it, put in the dog houses, and the water troughs; then add the goats, and let them get to work. I could use the doe’s and kids only, holding the boy back for working on cleaning up my place.
What would I need? Besides the fencing, the dog houses, and the water and feed troughs? Something to keep the kids from sliding under the fences. Perhaps a solar charger for the battery that would run the fence. A reliable vehicle and trailer to move all the equipment and the goats. Some occasional help. (Hell! I’d need a strong and physically active partner!)
I’d also might have to cut a fence line around the area the customer wanted cleared. A clear place to set up the electric fence. Then depending on how long the goats had to stay there I’d have to mow along it to keep it clear, and the fence working. Unless the customer already had a goat proof fence. Might be smart to also have a guard donkey.
Would I need insurance? In case something; like a coyote, feral dog or bob cat got to the goats, or the goats got out, and hit by a car/truck, or ate a car/truck/garden.
What would be my profit? Where could I pull in money from such and operation? From renting out my goats as organic land clearing machines. From having to feed them less. From selling baby goats I didn’t want to keep. (All the male ones. )
He he he. I could get two big castrated male goats to keep the smaller breeding billy company. And then try to train the big ones to pull a small cart. A small cart I could use in parades or around town just to advertise the business.
What would I need? Besides the fencing, the dog houses, and the water and feed troughs? Something to keep the kids from sliding under the fences. Perhaps a solar charger for the battery that would run the fence. A reliable vehicle and trailer to move all the equipment and the goats. Some occasional help. (Hell! I’d need a strong and physically active partner!)
I’d also might have to cut a fence line around the area the customer wanted cleared. A clear place to set up the electric fence. Then depending on how long the goats had to stay there I’d have to mow along it to keep it clear, and the fence working. Unless the customer already had a goat proof fence. Might be smart to also have a guard donkey.
Would I need insurance? In case something; like a coyote, feral dog or bob cat got to the goats, or the goats got out, and hit by a car/truck, or ate a car/truck/garden.
What would be my profit? Where could I pull in money from such and operation? From renting out my goats as organic land clearing machines. From having to feed them less. From selling baby goats I didn’t want to keep. (All the male ones. )
He he he. I could get two big castrated male goats to keep the smaller breeding billy company. And then try to train the big ones to pull a small cart. A small cart I could use in parades or around town just to advertise the business.
OR
I could choose to become a ‘professional’ writer. Use the money to get DSL put in and maybe an extra ‘business’ phone line. The problem there would be the continuing costs associated with that. Then I could get another, top of the line computer loaded with the same kind of programs as those of most publishing houses use. Plus one that will let me switch or translate formats from what one publishing house might want to what another uses. I could dive in and actually research these folks and find the one (or two!) that might be the best fit as well as an agent. I could also use some of the money to go to some of those writers events. Hell, maybe even a comic con or two.
Where would any income come from in this? Book sales. Speaking tours…Uh-oh. I’d have to take a class or two in public speaking for damn sure. And of course that magic word : residuals. Trouble is this would take some time. Maybe more to get started on than the goat idea.
Where would any income come from in this? Book sales. Speaking tours…Uh-oh. I’d have to take a class or two in public speaking for damn sure. And of course that magic word : residuals. Trouble is this would take some time. Maybe more to get started on than the goat idea.
OR
I could just leave that money where it is. Keep the status quo. Keep the truck I’ve got, the computer I’ve got, the situation I’m in.
Problems with that? This house in uninsured because I haven’t got the extra income needed to pay for insurance. I also haven’t got the extra income to make even the minor repairs that already are needed. I can’t afford to pay anyone to mow my front yard and I haven’t the money for the stuff to set up the irrigation system I’d need to turn it into an edible garden, much less for the stuff I’d need to get what can’t be found, made, or southern engineered into what I’d need for such a garden. Not to mention the seeds and / or plants. I doubt that truck of mine will last, besides with gas going up I won’t be able to afford to drive it much longer anyway. It’s also obvious that this health insurance company I’m with is likely going to keep raising it’s premiums on me and that the government will likely never raise what it pays me again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it decided to cut all SS payments. (After they gave themselves another raise, of course, for being so fiscally responsible!) Therefore, I have to get some more money SOMEWHERE! And I’m way to old to sell my ass on the street corners. There fore, despite the risks inherent in all of the idea’s above I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!
Problems with that? This house in uninsured because I haven’t got the extra income needed to pay for insurance. I also haven’t got the extra income to make even the minor repairs that already are needed. I can’t afford to pay anyone to mow my front yard and I haven’t the money for the stuff to set up the irrigation system I’d need to turn it into an edible garden, much less for the stuff I’d need to get what can’t be found, made, or southern engineered into what I’d need for such a garden. Not to mention the seeds and / or plants. I doubt that truck of mine will last, besides with gas going up I won’t be able to afford to drive it much longer anyway. It’s also obvious that this health insurance company I’m with is likely going to keep raising it’s premiums on me and that the government will likely never raise what it pays me again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it decided to cut all SS payments. (After they gave themselves another raise, of course, for being so fiscally responsible!) Therefore, I have to get some more money SOMEWHERE! And I’m way to old to sell my ass on the street corners. There fore, despite the risks inherent in all of the idea’s above I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!
But what!? Pick one? Mix them up and do two at once or try to? The only thing going for me right now is that my little heard of six goats has, in the last week of December, doubled in size with the addition of six cute little kid goats.
Anybody want to buy a baby goat for Easter? For Valentines?
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