Happy 2020 (and “Leap Day”)
Long Time No See
In case you didn’t see the update on my gloomy post from October 1, here it is again:
Update (1/6/2020):
No longer “desperately searching for a new home”. I have a place to stay for now and I have bought a RV (specifically a Class C motorhome) so I will be doing some traveling.
I will post about all this soon and I will start a new blog or add a new section to this one. I pick up the RV, probably tomorrow if all goes well.
Watch for the new post for more info.
Raised Bed Gardens
As it turns out I might be able to do some gardening here. Raised beds! Before it all hit the fan, my neighbor gave me six hinged boxes. They were actually shipping “crates” from his work. They unfold to about 3.5′ square-ish by roughly 8″ deep. I’ll have to measure but that’s at least the rough size. I did take them with me when I moved figuring they would be a quick start into gardening when I finally settle somewhere. Might as well use them here in the meantime. Sorry I have no pics of them right now. Only problem with them (or any raised bed) is what will I fill them with without spending a lot of money?
Since I do hope to be out ‘n’ about a lot I’ll try to plan for low maintenance crops. I’ll have to visit my storage unit and find the book I recently bought by Luke Marion (MIGardener on YouTube), called The Autopilot Garden: A Guide to Hands-off Gardening <affiliate link<. I bought it after my open heart surgery, obviously for different reasons than I have now.
RV Living
As I said in the update above, I have a place to stay for now. I do also have the motor home I mentioned. Originally the idea was to live full-time in it but now that I have a temporary home, all that is up in the air. But I have it, and even before all this happened I was planning to get one, to eventually travel/explore the US+.
So I’ll definitely still do that.
I hope to either expand this blog to include RV living or start a new one for that.
Probably a new one though. Gardening and RV’ing are two very different things. Haha. I’m not sure they can share the same blog without fighting.
We’ll see.
Gardening/Homesteading, NA/American Indians, and The Paranormal
In addition to playing tourist and sight seeing, I hope to make the most of my travels by researching things of interest to me. That (of course!) includes visiting interesting gardens and homesteads, backyard farms, and stuff like that.
It includes finding areas of importance – historical, spiritual, or otherwise – to native culture. And Powwows! I love Powwows!
But wait! There’s more!
It also includes visiting areas and buildings that are thought or known to be haunted…perhaps any organized ghost tours, meeting with and perhaps interviewing paranormal “experts” in each area.
All of this, I hope to document with photographs, writings (blog posts) and/or videos, and all assuming I can put aside my nervousness and actually do these things.
I think it would be interesting, educational, fun… maybe even profitable.
Biting Off More Than I Can Chew
It may be overly ambitious though, to think I could handle all that, at least by myself. So while trying to get the nerve, I’ll also try to get some help. I’m not sure how easy that will be. But I think this idea will be worth a try.
So check here for future updates. I really hope I can get past my anxieties and current physical limitations and pull this off.
Test Runs
While this post has been in “Draft” mode I’ve taken the motor home for a couple of test runs, both of them day trips. Also a trip back to the dealer for a battery issue and upgrade. The purpose of the day trips was to build my confidence in the motorhome I bought and in my driving of such a large vehicle. I’ve driven a large bakery truck before that’s similar in size, but that was a long time ago. But I always get used to (and dare I say “good at”?) driving anything new to me after enough practice.
The first trip was to Scusset Beach State Reservation. I only spent a short time there but it was good practice driving the beast. It didn’t do much for my confidence in the beast itself as it seemed sluggish at times, especially up hills…probably normal but I’m new to this.
The second trip was to Cape Cod. One great thing about my new home (the stationary one) is how close it is to the cape!
This trip was just what I needed to gain more confidence in the beast and I got a lot of practice driving it. And it was a fun day!
It seemed much less sluggish too. Maybe it just needed a good run after sitting at the dealership and in my driveway all that time with only a few short drives here and there. Or I just got used to how it runs.
New Blog Coming
I was typing and typing until 3AM about the day trip and when I got up this morning I decided that should all be in a new post, so keep an eye out for that. It will basically be my first RVing post!
Still Kicking
So now you know I’m still alive and kicking and there are plans in the works…in motion actually. A lot of things are in motion.
The Beat Goes On
It’s been a year and a few weeks since my open heart surgery. My chest is still fairly sore and itchy from time to time at the incision site. But the heart is still ticking. It seems like things, like BP and heart rate, are gradually improving. I’m on meds for them but you could always tell when taking vitals, whether I’ve taken the meds yet or not. Still can tell, but readings seem to be a bit more reasonable even before I’ve taken the meds lately. Hopefully that’s a good thing. lol
Back To It. Will It Still Be Impossible?
The house I lived in is about to be sold. I am part owner so I will get a little money from that. Then I can make a down payment on a new-to-me home. I’m still leaning toward Vermont but if I’m exploring the country… Who knows what region or state I’ll fall in love with.
I’m looking forward to traveling but I can’t wait to get back to “homesteading”. All part of the process I suppose. Hopefully my health will continue to improve so I can still do that stuff. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but sometimes it feels – well let’s just say sometimes it’s very discouraging. But I’m still determined, and I can design things to make them work with me. Oh yeah, like Luke’s book (see above) but beyond just gardening.
Well I guess that’s a decent update. I hope you enjoyed it and you decide to follow me on my new adventures. I think it will be fun for all, and it will be life changing for me.
Happy Gardening and Trails!