The City Mouse in the Country

  Special thanks to USA Today      A friend of mine online recently stated that the state of Texas was having a "Come to Jesus" moment.  Meaning that Texans would have some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks due to the winter storm.   Because a lot of the problems that were caused by this storm could have been avoid in the first place by simply listening to experts and making simple adjustments.     My heart goes out to the millions of people who have been without power for anywhere between 24 to 36 hours plus at the time of this writing.   Not being used to that type of cold, they were simply not prepared for roads covered in ice or electric lines snapping.  They were not prepared for the fact that water lines can freeze and or burst in these types of conditions.       Not having to deal with these types of conditions on a day to day basis, they were simply unprepared.       This is not a political blog, we are not going to discuss what happened or are we going to

     I don't know what attracts me to "Amish Cheese's."  I came across a few recipes while putting about on the interwebs and was taken by them.  They do seem rather simple to make and they require little in actual work but they do require time.  While not exactly a "set it and forget it" cheese, these cheeses often used milk that has spoiled naturally over time or "Clabbered."       Which, considering the Amish lifestyle, makes perfect sense.  The Amish are not a wasteful people.        One cheese that caught my eye is called Amish Cup Cheese.   It is a soft spread where you heated the milk to room temperature first (about 72 F) then let it cool, letting the curds seperate from the whey.    Then you add a bit ingredients and again...you "rested" the cheese for 12 hours before moving on to the next step.  Then, again add some more ingredients then rest for 5 hours before moving on.  It's not hard, just time consuming.        It's

      A few months ago I found myself in a precarious position.  The lights had gone off for a tad more than 24 hours and I panicked.  You see, I work from home and hope to continue to work from home into the foreseeable future and to do that, I need a reliable source of power.  I am planning on NOT ever going to the Cleveland if I can help it.        My job is technically in downtown Cleveland, and we moved to Western PA to be closer to family and friends.  My mother , for example, passed shortly after we moved.  I     So I spent a few days looking for a generator that could not only keep my up and running, but could also help keep the house warm by running our pellet stove and lights.   If you want, you can read more about how I ended up with the generator I did, here .  However long story short, it was important to me that I could keep my work PC on, a few lights, the pellet stove burning and maybe a TV and phone chargers      I had also set a budget to get everything, including th

      I decided that I could not let this holiday and year pass without comment.  I've started and stopped writing this entry three or four or five times now.  I've always done some sort of "year in review" for every blog I've ever wrote and this is no exception.        However I've only kept this blog since late September and really haven't done much in the way of "homesteading."      The question for me become how do I summarize a year that has been anything but simple?  How do you close out a year that has...to put it mildly...been anything but normal?   A year that frankly, I can't remember some parts of because they seem to exist in a dreamlike state?      It started simply enough, Sue and I were living in Florida and talking about moving home to PA, discussing about starting a bed and breakfast , etc.   Nothing that was to wild or out of the ordinary.        Our home in Florida had been off and on the market for the previous two years w

      We moved into this house back in September 2020, although I don't remember the exact date.  We had been thinking about moving back home for some time and were seriously considering/pursuing  the dream of either owning or running a bed and breakfast.  Susan has the hospitality background and book keeping experience and I've the experience in management, marketing, finance and taxes to make a go at it..         It didn't work out that way due to several reasons, mostly because of Covid 19 but also because the place we found; which was an old 100+ farmhouse with a built on great room addition and an in ground swimming pool, would have required way to much work.  Plus the Small Business Administration didn't like a few things in our business plan - mostly the area where we where, which they didn't believe would generate enough tourist dollars to make the Inn profitable.       Part of our plan included  having gardens or chickens.  Partially to appeal to the crowd

      The Original Look      When we bought this house, a little over two months ago, we understood that the roof was over 30 years old and would need to be replaced.   We actually had moss growing in one part of it, but there seamed to be little damage elsewhere and there was no leakage or damage to the wood underneath as far as we could tell.        There was also a design flaw in the original plans (???), the front porch roof only extended roughly three quarters over the concrete porch.   Since the front end of the porch roof was pitched that meant that any water or snow that missed the gutters was dumped into the final third of the porch.   This is where a diagram would come in handy but sadly, I've not idea on how to draw or attach it to this blog.   Sorry but my sad sack explanation is going to have to do.       Well I understand the basics of roofing, I'm in no way qualified to replace it.      So we hired a contractor and his largely Amish crew to help out, cleaning the

        I have to be honest, I wasn't sure if or when I would get back to this blog.   It is easy to make excuses but honestly, I've not done much of anything to improve the "homestead" in over a week or two; and that honestly bothers me. An old Caboose in Stoneboro     I do tend to be a lazy man and I just feel that I should be doing more to help prepare this home for the coming winter, but so far the temperatures have not dropped below the mid 40's and the last  two days have been a pretty consistent rain, which makes doing anything outside unpleasant at best and down right near impossible at worst.      What this has allowed the lovely Sue and I to do however is spend a little time traveling, exploring and finally getting our new pellet stove installed.  Well Sue grew up in this particular part of Western Pennsylvania, I did not.  We decided to go sight seeing, take in the wonders of Autumn and just relax for a bit.       Now generally speaking I would get all

A few days ago, Autumn struck Western Pennsylvania.  The red maples exploded into the blazes of color that they are known for, other trees started to slowly change and the first leaves started to fall. A few days ago, the woods were alive with the sounds of migrating birds, and I wish I had taken out my phone to record the sounds, I found myself thinking of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds.   Although I never had that sense of foreboding or dread, I just wished that I could have seen them and recorded the moment. It was also a morning where I awoke to fog and the sound of small arms fire, which to be completely honest, I mistook as fireworks.  I'm not sure if they were hunting squirrel, which is in season now, or just shooting to practice, but it was a little odd for me.   Susan just chuckled and told me to wait for deer season in November. I am enjoying some parts of country life, other parts...not so much.  Yesterday morning Susan told me that I didn't seem happy living

      Years ago I remember reading that Title line from a poem.  I've long forgotten the poem, the poets name and even the book I read it in.        However that first line has always stuck with me.        It is quiet here in Western Pennsylvania, I can hear the two dozen or so different species of birds sing in the trees that surround my home.  They swoop in sometimes, chickadee's and mourning doves, to eat at my feeders.     I've not seen a robin yet, and I do miss the family of Cardinals that used to come home every year and build a nest not far from my home in Tampa.   The young ones first flight was often to our feeder, where they would feast on black oily sunflower seeds and knock the little grains to the grass below.  Where rabbits and squirrels would gather to feast.       Here a lone chipmunk bides his time and avoids the feral cats that would gobble him whole.  I watch as he nervously stuffs his cheeks before disappearing into the underbrush.         It is quie