The City Mouse in the Country

  Let me state that first and foremost that I am a Pacifist.   I don't believe in violence in any way, shape or form nor do I believe that violent actions are ever justified. That being said I was reading an opinion piece on an environmentalist discussion board calling for more direct - and confrontational - action concerning climate change and social justice. I can understand the writer's comments and their frustration.  That being said I personally cannot condone or support any act of violence in the name of ecology or social justice (or any other cause for that matter).  That's just my personal belief that any violence just begets more violence...and that solves nothing. I may have been reading to much into it or supplanting my own fears and anxiety onto the author of the original piece  I do feel it's an idea worth commenting on however because the solutions needed are complex and intertwined and frankly require more than slap dash attempts at "policy." B

When I started this blog, now going into it's third year, I wasn't sure what I wanted it to do.  It lacked focus and intent.     I had a rough idea that I wanted to be a homesteader?  However at the time I really had no way define it.  On TV you see people isolated to a great extent, trying to be off the grid and self sufficient.  To a certain extent that's where I would like to be too. That's really is the basic definition of "homesteading" and even that most basic of definitions means different things to different people.  Generally however, we can all agree that it means trying to be a little more self sufficient. In some ways I consider that lifestyle to be the ultimate goal.. For now however I am just trying to reconnect with with nature by growing a garden.  The more I learn about some company farming practices, the more concerned I become about the food that I eat.  Being able to grow your own food is never a bad skill to have.   Although I'm not i

This has been a year of progress.  We are entering our third year of country living and I'm actually feeling a little more hopeful than I did this time last year.  We entered the year with vague goals, things that we wanted to accomplish but with little to know idea on how to accomplish them. We managed to get a lot done. Susan could not stand the bathroom and kitchen from day one in our home, and we somehow managed to replace the windows, redo the majority of our kitchen and part of our bathroom.   That was just some of those goals we had in mind at the start of 2022.   Technically the bath is far from done, and the kitchen does need a little more work before I'm ready to call it "finished."  We got things done, that's the important thing. Yes, they took longer than I would have liked. We discussed how to keep your house warm on a budget.   I wanted to plant a small garden and we did have a few containers full of strawberries, some herbs, tomato's and such.

  As you can see, I've an abundance of apples.  A friend of a friend had a bumper crop...and here we are. We have had them for a few days but up until now have not sure what we were going to do with them.  The lovely Sue I'm sure will find away to make a Dutch Apple pie.  I'm sure she'll find something else as well to do with them. It's what I wanted to do with them that interests me.  I like to experiment in the kitchen and generally am not able to.  Mostly because what interests doesn't interest anyone else (See our recipe page for " Farts of Portingale " and a 2000 + year old chicken dish ) and that I don't really feel comfortable in the kitchen unless it's pretty straightforward.  I had apples, a pretty much non used jar of tahini and free time between now and the new year.  It's rare when Susan and I decide to try some things in the kitchen together It all started with toast.  Sue is normally the one that makes breakfast on the weekend

I 'm not sure if kids today have ever played with a Kaleidoscope .  You used to be able to buy this silly little toy, which consisted of two or more refractive surfaces in the tube, at any toy store.  Turn it one way and see one colorful pattern, turn it another and see a completely different pattern.  The number of patterns depended on a couple of things which I’m not going to go into here. Kaleidoscopes however are a thing of the past.   Simple little toys that didn’t beep or let you beat up hookers or kill Big Bad Monsters.   There was no winners, no losers.    There were only moments of simple fleeting beauty. Relationships, particularly family relationships are a kaleidoscope.  For example, my brother and I are only 3 years apart in age, grew up in the same home and were raised by the same parents, but we were raised by two completely different people and have two completely separate memories of events. Turn the tube slightly and entirely new patterns appear.   I tho

I am driving into the sunset.  The colors of the sky are brilliant; as pinks, oranges and reds dominate the skyline.  The sun continues to set and the palate changes into the darker hues.  It feels as if I'm driving into heaven itself as I make my way down some random country lane. Change and loss have been on my mind a lot this October.  We celebrated the second anniversary of our move from Florida quietly.  We remembered the passing of my mother quietly and are dealing with the loss of Susan's father the best we can.   Her father passed earlier this evening. It's only a matter of time for my father as well. Death and change have been on my mind as of late.   How do you deal with the passing of a parent?  How do you deal with the the realization of our own mortality?  Because like it or not we are next in line.   The coming days will be filled with grief as Susan’s family members say goodbye to their Dad.   I will be there beside them to provide what comfort I can.   One

Suddenly, it's October. Actually, scratch that.  Suddenly it's mid October.  Frankly time has passed me by quickly this month.  Nor do I have much to share.  We are still in a holding pattern over our home improvements, and I have just learned that our builder has come down with COVID.   So our plans are put off a bit longer.  I would rather have this work done sooner than later because October is a bipolar month.  It's full of sunshine and warm days only to shift to cold nights and rainy weather, here in Stonoboro there is even the possibility of snow flurries in the coming days.  It is not something I'm looking forward to.  For now however I'm finding joy in leaf peeping.  I'm enjoying stepping out on my porch during a break and letting the sun warm my face.  I'm enjoying the taste of homemade eggnog and the fact that my yard has taken on the appearance of a rich Persian rug.     Susan is baking fresh bread and an apple pie.  I relax with a hot cider.

     Lately everything is on "hold."  My garage is filled to the brim with appliances and tile waiting to be installed for the updated kitchen.   We have a new front door ordered, windows sitting on a loading dock somewhere and lightening ready to be installed.     We are waiting on our contractor to finish one job and start ours.        I started a new position at work in late August, where I am working nearly exclusively with "high touch" customers and agents that need to have their needs fulfilled yesterday.  I feel for them, I've been an insurance agent for eight years now and have owned my own independent delivery company (one of those jobs that I fell into - much like insurance) for roughly 15 years.  I've spent nearly my entire working career in sales.  You always want to under promise and over deliver. Due to 1001 reasons a lot of those requests and desires simply can't be fulfilled.       Holding patterns.      A long overdue vacation is also pl

 So I got banned from Facebook for 24 hours. I violated community standards because of a post that was somehow taken out of context.   I don't know or really care about the technical stuff, but basically a "bot" that scans the world wide web looking for content that does not meet "community standards" tagged me.  I would be lying if I didn't say I was little bit upset about it; after all there is a lot worse things that are floating around on Facebook than "They are already here, kill them on sight." A friend of ours had posted a picture of the spotted lanterfly , which is an invasive species. The department of agriculture here in Pennsylvania has requested that you kill them on sight.   He didn't think they were in this part of the state yet and this was his first siting of one..   The problem that I have is that lots of news stories and articles have already been written about this problem.  Slate magazine even published a bit of a humorous