Camping in a Pop Up Camper

We haven't named "her" yet, but she's ours.  We'll be family camping, and just having a good ol' time.  She has a slide out for the table, a toilet, air conditioner, refrigerator, stove that can be moved to outside or inside, and an outside shower.  She sleeps 7-8 (6 adults comfortably).

Gratitude

I am thankful for the teas and the "stress relief" body/bath that my mother gave me.  It arrived at the most opportune time.

Need to Learn List ~ More Hullabaloo on the Homestead

Apparently, I need to learn to gut a deer now.  You know we can't go a day around here without something going on.

While I was showering, and one daughter was on the treadmill (with headphones on), someone hit a deer right in front of our house.  The driver had gone on, but the deer was left behind (on our property).

I had gone to the garden to see if I had anything to pick for my breakfast, and was at the stove when I saw a man walking up to the door. 

Evidently, he drove by, and saw the deer moving around in the yard.  He just wanted to alert me, and that the Sheriff was on the way (they have to be the ones to put them down).

I did call Hubby, but he didn't answer (tsk tsk), to see if he could get extended family over to utilize the meat.  When the Sheriff arrived, Hubby finally called back, but didn't want to send someone without seeing what damage was done to the deer.

Thankfully, the Sheriff had a list, and thankfully someone came for the deer.  Otherwise, it would pulled to the other side of the highway to be left to rot.  And that would not be good with our dogs. 

So....there you have it.  Another fun day at the homestead.  Guess I am adding "learn to gut a deer" to my "learn something new list." 

2013 ~ Worst Garden Year

I have succumbed to realize that this year is the worst garden year ever (however our first worst).  The second, unexpected, spring frost took half of my carrots, beets, cucumbers, and beans.  We replanted, but almost all of our beets did not come up.  

On the Loose ~ Camper

 "Big boy" (Orion) has been getting loose a lot lately.  This concerns me with the big barn too.  He got caught up inside where the loft caved down, so we are in a much needed hurry to find a way to remove that barn.  Money is extremely tight now, with all the repairs and replacements, so I am praying we can still find someone to take the wood.

It's not "Big Boy's" fault either. 

Recovering . . .

Here is a photo of where the lightening traveled through the dryer, from the electrical socket, then ignited the propane that was leaking from line on the hot water heater.  Still, we are thankful it happened.  Otherwise....

The cable/internet guy is here, and has been here for 1 1/2 hours.  Evidently, lightening also fried the cable line at the utility pole by the highway.  It basically "melted" it.

We are still trying to get the cable box to work, but we do have the internet now.  I have a long list of to-do's today, including pay bills, and check my bank account.  You don't realize what you use the internet for, until you don't have it.

We have a lot more to clean up and repair, but I wanted to post and let you all know we are recovering over all of this.    My nerves are frayed beyond their limit.  

It's been a very bad year so far.  We got more rain, so the fate of our garden is yet another disaster (maybe). 

Look what showed up in the mail. 

Another Bad Storm

Have you been wondering where I have been the past few days? 

Where do I start?

I'm at the library right now.  Our cable/internet service was knocked out early Saturday morning.  The service folks have not been over yet to see what the problem is.

We had another bad storm early Saturday morning.  At 5:00am, I awoke to heavy rain, loud thunder, and a lot of lightening.  I rushed to the kitchen, unplugged the computer and cable line, and gathered battery powered lights (and flashlights).  My 16 year-old got up and searched for her dog so she could put his thundershirt on.  She was also searching for Mattie. 

The last time I posted, Mattie had come home from the vet and was not recovering quickly.  She was stumbling and falling down.  She had gone underneath my bed, and for some reason, my daughter felt an urgency to get her out.  I had told her to just let her rest there.  Later we realized we should have gotten her out.

I went back to bed, and could not sleep of course.  Somewhere around 6:30am-ish, it happened.  There was a very loud "BOOM" and when I opened my eyes I swear I saw a yellow flash in my dresser mirror. 

Lightening hit.  It popped two fuses in the breaker box, and my lights in the bedroom were out.  I took my flashlight and checked my mirror, as I thought it had completely cracked. The noise was that loud.  Also, I had heard something fall down in the hall from the wall when I heard the noise.

I got up and checked the utility room, which is down the next to my room, and next to the kitchen bathroom.  I heard sounds from the hot water heater that were not right.  I walked all the way in, and found flames shooting up under (or where it appeared to be coming from) the hot water heater.  I flew into the kitchen and grabbed a fire extinguisher, and put it out.  I know the dangers of propane, and immediately called Hubby (who had left for a 4:00am shift at work) for the location of the shut off valve (not one of us but Hubby knew where it was).  I called him 3 times. Our tank is buried.  I had an idea, but was not certain.  Hubby always took care of those things. By then a second fire started. 

I don't do well in these situations, and my kids pretty much took control of gathering everyone (and pets).   My hands were shaking and I was, as my kids say, "freaking out."

The second fire had flames shooting up from underneath my dryer, that was not far from the hot water heater.  I could not get Hubby to answer his phone.  The dryer had been plugged in, but off.  I put out the fire with our last fire extinguisher, I had one of the kids call 911 and said "GET OUT!"

We had to go to the chicken/goat barn and wait.   We went in our jammies, barefeet or whatever shoes were at the door.  We got everyone out but 2 cats - Jasper and Mattie.   It was pouring down and the lightening continued.  When the fire department arrived (which by the way the passed us, and I had to run out and wave them down), they were able to shut off my propane and investigate.  There was enough propane in the house that when the opened the door, there was another "BOOM" and things on the wall flew off. 

We were allowed in later, only to be told that there was a pin hole leak in our propane line inside, and on the water heater.  Evidently, a past home owner had taped over it with some type of tape (very unsafe, and pointed out by the fireman).  I was upset that they had done this, and it put my entire family at risk.

What a mess we have to clean up, but I am thankful it happened.  I keep replaying scenarios, that if the lightening had not ignited the propane, and we were all still asleep, we may not be here today. 

My daughter (16 year-old) and I had already had my car packed for the Farmer's Market, so we decided to drive over and see if we could set up late.  We didn't have much else we could do, and Hubby was fixing the propane line.  I needed to get my mind off things too.

We are still cleaning up my fire extinguisher mess, but still thankful I have a family and a house to clean up.  We did lose our front load dryer, one flat screen TV, my newly gifted blueray player,and we now have a leak to fix.  The "booms" shook the house so much that the woodstove piping worked loose and rain was coming in.  It was also coming into the garage.

When we did go back in, we found Mattie sleeping silently in the same place she was last, and we could not find Jasper.  Later the kids found him inside the couch.  They ripped the bottom to pull him out, and even then, he did not want out.   Poor guy.  We never did see much of him until today.

Hubby feels bad he did not feel his phone vibrate, and asked me to call many times to make sure he was getting my calls.  Otherwise, he would get a new cell phone.

Oh, and everyone, not just me, now knows were the propane shut off valve is now.  We are putting in another smoke alarm, and replacing our fire extinguishers.  The kids realize that clutter can't be anywhere anymore, and in an emergency hallways, and rooms need to be tidy.  Also, I have a new rule - headphones are not allowed during the night.

And yes, I got the speech from Hubby (who is also a volunteer fireman) that the first thing you do when propane is flaming, is shut the propane off (not use a fire extinguisher) - No propane, no flames.  Did he not hear me when I told him I didn't know where the valve was? Or that he didn't answer his phone? Sheesh. Men. I saw fire, I put it out. The fire department shut it off, and they saved our home.  There were many lessons learned from this too.


Oh....there's more.

The next morning, Hubby told me that the bathroom tile was completely done, and I could shower in there.  Two minutes into my shower, I felt a tile sink.  Let's just say no one in the house is allowed to say the words "tile" or "shower" in the same sentence.