A Manley Easter

The kids had a good time hunting for Easter eggs in the slushy snow. They did a kids hunt with the little kids getting a bit of a head start. They found plastic eggs with candy and some had sheets of paper redeamable for dollar bills. The grande prize was the egg with the piece of paper worth $5. There was also an adult hunt for the Easter bunny. NO JUST KIDDING!!!! There really was an adult hunt but it was for the plastic eggs with candy and sheets of paper numbered 1-8. After the hunt we all reasembled at the town hall for a hotdog potluck lunch. The kids redeamed their papers for cash and the adults redeamed theirs for GIANT candy bars. Number 1 got first pick and so on and so forth. It was a good lunch with tons of good food. There is never a shortage of great food at a Manley Hot Springs gathering that is for sure! Special thanks to those who worked behind the scenes putting this event together.



Clearing the lot



I would have liked to have attended the Easter service at the church on Sunday but Ken doesn't get much for time off and he wanted to try to start getting some stuff over to the other property. That was an adventure in and of itself and like church involved alot of prayers. (GRRRRR just lost another key off my keyboard, that makes three time to order a new one). Anyway back on track. First we took some stuff back on the broken gooseneck that actually went pretty well considering  the missing tire were the axel sheared off and the messed up tire(which happened trying to haul the floor lumber from Fairbanks). The next was the equipment trailer with the floor lumber. That started off ok. We knew it had some damage but didn't know the extent until we got out on the trail and realized that the axel was about 4" further back than it should be. We we're able to jack it up and pull it forward with a combination come along and prying. Then we put in a bolt that we had. A bit further down the trail and it sheered off. Thats when we really got to looking under there and saw that the spring on the opposite side was broken. The jack on the front of the trailer was messed up too so it was a two man job to get it to go down like it should. Then we would lift the back with the forks on the backhoe bucket. Needless to say once we got it back there which took the rest of the day it stayed there. It took alot of lifting pushing and adjusting to get it back there. The good news is though that we have the concreat and lumber to get started on the floor. Now we have to pick a spot, clear it and get started on the foundation columns. Piece of cake right ;)? The trail is already turning to mud and we haven't seen anything yet. We may have to get really creative to get our building materials back in there. It's about 2 miles of trail. I want to actualy check the odometer next time and see exactly how far it is off the highway.

The chickens are getting big starting to hear one trying to crow.



Americanas on Feeder




Red Chantecler On Waterer




Polish




Polish Front Americana Back




Polish


 Can't wait to butcher these Meat birds they are so fat and gross looking. It's nice that they grow so fast so you can butcher them sooner but man are they gross! They poop so much more than the others and they just look gross because their feather growth can't keep up with their fat bodies. They seem kinda mean too. I will not miss them when their gone!

Cornish X Meat Birds



Another Hard Days Work

Thanks as always to all our friends for your prayers and emotional support. We are thankful to have each and every one of you in our lives.

Blessings

Sarah Sue :)

One SICK Kid!

Well adventure, adventure. As I've posted before we have all been fighting sickness since we went into Fairbanks last month for the kids "well child" checkups. Last Wednesday night Lisa'sfever spiked at 104.5*F. This of coarse is durring the not so lovely and not so little wind storm that we had. The next day after much debate and deliberation I loaded the kids in the car and we headed to the clinic in Minto. The clinic in Manley Hot Springs is closed right now because the public health nurse quit and moved to Florida. The roads were like polished glass and there were a few small drifts. It was scary but we made it in just over an hour. I pulled in just as the Village Safety Officer was getting ready to comer out searching for me after people started calling the clinicto make sure that I had made it ok. For some reason a couple people thought that I had left about an hour before I actually had. An hour is a perfectly reasonable drive time given the weather conditions. We got into the Minto clinic just after 11am. We ended up spending most of the day there. Lisa's temp was fine when we got there but went up after we had been there a while. She was given Ibuprofen and the temp continued to climb before going down. Lisa was also complaining of a sore/stiff neck. Her throte was a little red but a strep test was negative. They also tested her urin and told us that there was "something in it". Concearns at this point were possible bladder/kidney infection and possible meningitis. We were getting really hungry and both Ken and the nurses said that we could go get a bite to eat at the lodge right next door. When I went in I was told that we could not sit in there. I asked if we could get something to eat to go. I was told to talk to another lady that was behind the counter. I stood at the counter and was ignored so I took the kids back over to the clinic. All I had to feed them were some really old granola bars that had been in the diaper bag for who knows how long. I felt really bad that I couldn't feed the kids a meal. (Our denial at the lodge was because we are white by the way, this is a native village) Even the nurse said it wasn't right that they wouldn't serve us. They gave her two shots of Rocephin in her butt cheeks and some oral Amoxicillin. They wanted me to take her into Fairbanks that day, but with blowing snow and drifts being reported that were anywere from a few inches to several feet, I was not comfortable with the idea of driving in alone. We ended up waiting for Ken to get to Minto driving the bus at around 4pm and followed him on the way home. I did fine the whole way home even though I slid around a bit in a few spots. That is until Ken stoped the bus just before the driveway so instead of being able to just slow down and turn in I had to try to come to a complete stop inorder to avoid coliding with the bus. This of coarse threw me into a spin and landed me in the snow filled ditch. We had to hook my car up to the bus to pull it out.

Friday we all drove into Fairbanks even the dogs because we did not have time to arrange care for them. They were still advising that folks only drive the highway between 10am-3pm while the plow trucks are running. It was still windy and very ICY. We were stoped at the top of the hill just past the Minto turn off while a plow truck cleared a large drift. The cleared drift areas were single lane trails carved through the drifts. We made it to Hilltop Truckstop just after the lunch rush and grapped a bite to eat. I must say we have not had very good experiances going out to eat in Fairbanks. Hilltop was an exeption. The food was great and there was a good amount for your money. The Clam chowder was extra Yummy! and so were the onion rings. Then we went on in to the First Care urgent care clinic. They checked out all the kids and me. They did a strep test on me that was negative. They also did another urin test and blood work on Lisa. They showed blood in her urin and some odd things in her white blood cells and ordered us to followup with the pediatrics department the next day. We got out of there a little after 4pm. We had made a reservation to stay the night at the 7 Gables(they accept the medicaid voucher). When we got there and went to check in the room was under renovation and ot ready yet. We did some running around and picked up something for supper. When we went back now 7:30pm it still was not ready and they didn't know when it would be. So we called the other hotels that accept the vouchers and couldn't find a place to stay. We ended up at the Comfort Inn and an out of pocket expense of over $100 in money that we of coarse don't have so on the credit card. We were able to at least take the dogs into the room with us.

The next day we took the kids into the Pediatrics office at the Tanana Valley Clinic. They looked over the urin test and bloodwork. their biggest concearn was her stiff/sore neck. The possability of meningitis still on the table they were talking about partially treated meningitis. The only way to effectively diagnose the meningitis is with a spinal tap. Then the cure is IV antibiotics over 7-14 days. They ordered us to stay in town and go back in Monday morning. We were able to get a room at the 7 gables under the vouchers. After we checked in we met up with Connie the other bus driver (the bus drivers stay at the 7 Gables). We made arrangements for a shift trade. Ken would drive the bus home on Sunday and take our dogs home. Then he would drive the bus back on Monday. That way after the appointment he could drive home with us and then Connie could drive the bus back on Tuesday. Assuming of coarse all was well and they don't order the spinal tap. Connie said that on her way in most of the ice had melted and the roads were clearning.

Sunday we ran a few errands then went back to the hotel. After Ken left Connie the kids and I all went out to Vallue Village and Fred Meyer. Then we had supper at Taco Bell thanks to Connie and then went out for icecream with some Fairbanks friends. We wanted to go to Cold Stone but the line was out the door and it was already getting late. We ended up going to McDonalds instead and the kids got to play in the play yard. Lisa was doing well all day back to her crazy self. Ken called and said the roads were clear almost the entire way.

Monday we went to the appointment at 8:15am. They didn't really tell us much just said to finish out the amoxocilin and keep an eye on her neck complaints and temp. Then we ran by Walmart and Alaska Feeds. We bought 10 more baby chicks at the feed store. Then we went back to the Hotel and hung out in Connie's room since check out was at 11am for our room. When Ken got in with the bus around 3:30pm we all got into the car to head home. We made one last gas stop and headed home. It was a pretty smooth ride with just a couple of spots that still had some ice. The rest of the road was down to dirt. We got home a little after 7pm and that is including a couple stops to pick up bits of strap off the side of the road.

Tuesday was spent trying to clean the house after the long absence. I still have piles of dishes as I'm out of water and piles of Laundry that I will need to haul into the washateria.

Today (wed) we had a visit from Gina a developmental specailist who came to check on the boys speech. Oak seems to have trouble forming words and Wyatt while he speaks very clearly and forms good sentances is starting to stutter. This has been very upsetting for Ken. He feels like it's his fault because he stutters and he worries about Wyatt going through the same hard time that he did. I told him not to worry because at least Wyatt has a daddy who will understand. Tomorrow I'll be heading in to do laundry and maybe take Lisa to school since she hasen't been in a while.

Saturday Manley Hot Springs Crafters Guild are putting on an Easter egg hunt for the kids so we are hoping to attend. I need to make some memory room on my camera and get the battery charged so I can take some pictures.

I may add more details to this If I get some time later. Otherwise you'll here more from me after the Egg Hunt :)

Blessings this Easter,
Sarah Sue and Crew

Ken's Birthday And March Fairbanks Trip

Yesterday was Ken's Birthday. It was a pretty informal affair. I made him bacon and real (store bought) eggs for breakfast. Then he took the backhoe out to clear a neighbors (about 1 mile down highway) driveway. He has just returned for the summer. I went to work baking a cake and since the oven was hot made some fresh rolls and a loaf of bread. For dinner I made salmon on the grill with mayo and parmesian cheese. I usually just gut the salmon and take off the head, tail and fins for the dogs and cook the rest whole so that I can get as much meat off as possible. Since this was a special occasion I tried my hand at filleting it with one of our lowsy knifes. NOTE TO SELF: GET BETTER KNIVES AND GOOD SHARPENER. They came out ok I didn't mutilate it too badly and they still tasted wonderful. I had also planned on making baked potatoes but the potatoes that Ken brought home from Fairbanks were so huge that they weren't even close to done on time even though I started them an hour and a half early in the woodstove before putting the Salmon on the grill. Soooo, I ended up just frying some up with dried bell pepper, onion and seasoning. They turned out fine but I was still disapointed. We'll have the baked potatoes for dinner tonight. I also made some baked beans. So we had grilled salmon, fried potatoes, baked beans and fresh rolls. Not a bad spread. Then we had the grande finalle of Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Ken's not a big cake eater but he loves fluffy chocolate chip cookies. So I decided to attempt to make a fluffy cake that tastes like a chocolate chip cookie. It actually came out really good. Here is my recipe:

I made this recipe up but it came out so good I thought I would share.


2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2c butter softened
1 tbsp Vanilla
1 c milk
2 eggs
2 c Chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)

Sift together dry ingrediants, cut in butter until crumbs add eggs, milk, vanilla. Mix well scraping bowl (batter will be a little lumpy). Fold in Chocolate chips. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake in pre-heated oven. Aprox 350* 25-30min.

For frosting I melted 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1 tbsp butter and 1/4 c milk in a double boiler. Then I spread it over the top of the hot cake after I took it out of the oven. Then I let it cool for a while and put butter cream frosting on top and then swirled it with the chocolate.

*I think this would be really good also with mint. Either a mint extract in the cake or frosting or even using mint chocolate chips.

Unfortunatly Lisa didn't get to eat with us or get cake. She started complaining that she was just too tired so we sent her to bed. I went up after supper to check on her and she had a fever of 102.6*F. I gave her some fever reducer, striped her naked, put a cold cloth on her head and gave her some chamomile tea. The fever came down but the hives that she has been getting off and on the past few days came back. We've all been fighting a head bug.

We all went into Fairbanks on Monday March 28th for the kids anual checkup. Things in Fairbanks went pretty smooth. We got Lisa an Epi-Pen and scheduled her for allergy testing in May. Which I am not looking forward to. On the way home on Tuesday an axel on the gooseneck trailer snaped clean at the hub and the tire went flying off. On it's way off it managed to mangle another tire. The pickup truck that pulled up behind us after just happened to be an older couple that lives about a mile from us in the warmer months. They stayed as a flag truck while we limped to a pullout. We had to leave the trailer with $4,000.00 in lumber and fuel sitting on the highway about 100 miles from home. The next morning we all woke up sick, we couldn't even hold down water. Ken didn't get out of bed the entire day which has only happened one other time in our 8 years together. The day after that we were still sick but doing a little better. Ken and our neighbor Mark went to go and get the lumber. They left with the Ken's semi, Trapper's drop deck trailer and Ken's F350. They come home with the F350 and the broken trailer with the fuel on it. When they got to the same pull off were the trailer was sitting the air pump went out in the Semi. So now the semi with the drop deck trailer and still all of the lumber are still sitting at that turnout 100 miles from here. Then we all got slammed with this nasty head cold that we are still fighting. Seems like everytime we all go into Fairbanks we come home sick. Yet another reason to stay AWAY from the city. With Ken driving the bus though he is still exposed to all kinds of junk. Ken rode in on the bus today and will get dropped off at the Semi and hopefully fix it and bring it home. If not he'll be camping out and riding the bus home tomorrow. We really need to get all the lumber and supplies back to the build site before thaw when the trail turns to mud. We had hoped to start building last week. With all the extra snow we've had in the past few days hopefully that has bought us a little more time. Yesterday and Today so far have been nice and sunny. Was up to 40*F yesterday and it's about 34*F today.

Sunrise: 6:49 AM AKDT
Sunset: 9:22 PM AKDT
Length of Day: 14h 32m
Tomorrow will be 6m 56s longer.
Moon Rise: 8:11 AM AKDT
Moon Set: 5:08 AM AKDT
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent
36% Illuminated

Oak



Wyatt

When life gets tough sleep it off LOL...

Blessings,

Sarah Sue Smith

Our First Manley Hot Springs Spring Carnaval - 2011

SPRING CARNAVAL

&

ROADHOUSE OPENING

Spring is in the air and we shut ins are feeling frisky and looking for a good time. I found my good time today at the Manley Hot Springs Spring Carnaval. We live about 16 miles from the Village of Manley Hot Springs so that is our community. It is full of some of the most wonderful people you would ever meet. There was a good croud today at the carnaval which started at 10:00am. I wish that I had been able to take more pictures but unfortunatly I was tied up alot of the time with my fussy twins who don't seem to like being out in the snow. I'm hoping that is something that they will get over by next winter when they will be a little bit more steady on their feet and have a little more ground clearance.

Each event started with the youngest kids then worked up in age to adult women and then adult men. The first event was Ice bowling. Similar to regular bowling with standard pins and a standard ball. Each player gets one shot to take down as many pins as possible. The line is of coarse closer for the little kids and goes back as the players are older. Lisa did well and got some pins. I didn't get a single pin but at least managed to stay on my feet. Which for me queen clutz and the worst bowler known to man was amazing. Huge credit is due to the winner Nicole B. who managed to win even with a baby on her back. WOOOO HOOOO for Nicole what an Amazing little mama! I'm honestly not sure who won the other age groups as I was fully engrossed in calming down the twins at this point who of coarse both want to be held up far away from the snow and only want mama.

Lisa Ice Bowling

Benjamin Ice Bowling

The next event was the toilet seat toss. Again Lisa did well, she kicked it. I was still strugling with the twins. Ruth tried to take one and walk around a bit but he wasn't having any of it and only wanted mama. I was finally able to put them both into the sled and by dragging them around in circles for a while they eventually fell asleep. By then the older kids were done and it was time for the women. I actually did ok at this one, not winning quality but I managed to pull a score at least. The object of the game is to get the toilet seat to land at the center of a bulls eye that is painted on the ice. I did manage to keep my toss within the bulls eye. It's alot harder than it sounds. Tossing to hard will land you outside as it slides easily on the ice. Not hard enough and you come up short. The winner of this event was Ruth. Who is pictured with her reward and the seat that was being tossed. The other ladies in the picture are Pam R.(front) and Linda J. (rear) These are the AWSOME women involved with planning and pulling off this great event.

Roshel Playing Toilet Seat Toss

The Boys Asleep In The Sled

Boys Asleep in Sled Wearig Bear Hats

The Kids Hats were made by my sister Rebecca Goldsmith. You can find her stuff for sale in her online stores. Here are a couple of links: Desert Diamond Crochet on Etsy & Trescrochique Etsy Store .

Ruth Winner of Toilet Seat Toss. Pam (holding bottle) & Linda (red sweater) Event organizers.


Then we all headed over to another area were they did an event called a sled kick. They had mushing sleds (no dogs) and you just kicked your way across with one leg, the other leg standing on the back of the sled. Again my little good sport Lisa did really well. She was competing against boys who were all at least a year older than her and by golly she held her own. She didn't win but she kept up well and I was proud. Later when I was talking to someone about how well she did she said "It's because I have big feet" and thats no lie, my girl has got some huge feet and hands. I think she's going to be taller than mama by the time she's 10. Unfortunatly after the pull to the new spot and then stopping the boys started to get a little fussy again so I had to stand there and keep moving the sled and was unable to get my camera out. I'm hoping that someone else got some shots of this and will post them somewere that I can put in a link to later on. I was actually thinking this event would be more up my alley but with the boys I was unable to patisipate. Booo. Oh well.

After this was a relay race. Teams of 4, 2 adults 2 kids each lined up. You had 4 stations: 1 gloves, 2 coats, 3 hats, 4 scarves. The first runner had to go put on a glove run back, the second would then put on the glove and run to get a coat. So on and so forth until the last runner returns wearing all 4 items. Bea took over my spot of sliding the boys so that I could play with Lisa. The first runner on our team was Roshel. The poor little sweet heart I felt so bad for her. She is the same age as Lisa but not nearly as independant. She ran down and then started to cry, she had to be walked back. By the time she made it back other teams were almost done. Lisa went next and then Roshel's mom Lynn. Next would have been my turn but before Lynn got back another team had already won. I went back over and one of the boys was starting to fuss. We were pretty well ready to head home.

The next events were the soda and the beer scrambles. They tossed a whole bunch of soda on the kids side and soda and beer on the adult side. Then it's kinda like an easter egg hunt you just get in there and find as many as you can. Lisa did well but got mad at me and cried when I called her back. "I know there are still more in the deep snow" she said. By then though the boys were starting to cry again and I had, had enough. When the adults started though I did manage to fall in the snow chasing a Dr. Pepper that was just calling out to me. I just grabbed the one though and proceded to load the kids in the car. Ruth ended up with a bunch of Dr. Pepper which she gave me and I could have kissed her. I know soda is bad for you and thats why we don't keep it in the house, but Dr. Pepper is my drug of choice. I guess if you have to have a vice it could be alot worse than Dr. Pepper.

At this point it was a little after one and they were starting snow machine races. I would have liked to watch but I couldn't handle fighting the cranksters anymore. I wanted to take them to the Roadhouse to eat but they wern't going to re-open until 3:00pm and I didn't really want to wait around til then. Lisa begged me though to go eat at the roadhouse. She said "theirs just nothing I want to eat at home." I ended up taking them up to the washateria and giving them a hose down in the shower. They got all clean and ate some trail mix and seemed to be in a much better mood. That only took about an hour though so we did a little driving taking the scenic route back into town past the greenhouses and then out to the Tanana were we turned around. We got into the roadhouse just before 3:00pm. Poor Penny was in there all alone prepairing food for a crowd. A HUGE batch of spagetti. The kids had some chicken nuggets and I had a hamburger both with frys. Both of which were very good! The kids did really well and were very well behaved at the roadhouse. A few other people came in. One other family (From Fairbanks) ate while we were there and a few people came and went from the bar. The last event of the day was a snow machine poker run that was scheduled for later in the day at 5:00pm. I sure hope that things picked up and they were able to sell some of that Spagetti.

After a long day we finally headed home. The kids fell asleep on the way home so it was a nice quite drive. Came home and the kids were a wild bunch of crazy people. They got into the woodchips for the chick brooder and spread it all over and all in their hair so that made for a fun clean up. Needless to say they are now in bed a little early and I'm burning off my Dr. Pepper high typing this post. The kids have been getting wild alot lately. I think they are testing mamma more now that Daddy is gone to work so much. The pictures of them with the marker faces are from a few days ago when after watching Peter Pan they decided to be indians.

Lisa's Uh Oh I'm in trouble look

Wyatt

Oak

As for myself. I think that I am becoming more and more anti social the longer I am away from working. I like people for the most part and I've never liked BIG crowds. lately though I seem to get really anxious and stressed when I'm around more that just a handfull of people at a time. Like I just don't know what to do and I feel awkward like a little kid amongst adults who is supposed to know what to do and doesn't. I wish I had my daughters confidence. She was up for any game any challenge. She wasn't bothered at all by having eyes on her or getting attention. For me I just felt like I didn't know what to say or how to act. Just not like myself it was a really odd experiance. Not sure if it stemed from all the drama at home lately or being tucked away from people for the winter. I sure hope I don't have some kind of panic attack when we take the kids to the Dr. in Fairbanks next week!

On another note Ken picked up nine more chicks today and will bring them home tomorrow night. That will give us 5 Americana, 5 Red Chanteclers, 5 Polish, and 4 Cornish Cross. So, 15 egg layers and 4 meat birds. I'm hoping to get at least 1 rooster from the egg layers so that we can hatch some little crossed chicks next spring. I can't wait to see the Polish chicks with their little top hats.

Lisa and the Americana chick she named Treeblossom

Americana chick

Lisa's Playdough version of Bob the tomatoe and Larry the cucumber from Veggie Tales.

Realy Cute Chicks!!!

Brooder

Mason Jar Feeder and Waterer

Americana

Red Chanteclers

Hey all our first 10 baby chicks are here. We will have 20 by next week but not all the breeds we wanted were available this week. We have 5 Americanas and 5 Red Chanteclers. We will be getting 5 Polish and 5 meat birds (cornish cross). We brought in our old Quail brooder because our Chick brooder wouldn't fit through the door. It's way taller than we need but it will work. We have them sitting behind the woodstove with a small heat lamp. They aren't day olds though their probably a week or more old. The Americanas are a bit older than the others. I want to eventually inter breed these three breeds and possibly add some Wyandotte to the mix later on. The breeds that we have now have basically no combs or waddles and no feathered feet. That way they are less likely to get frost bite and won't have issues with the snow sticking to their feet. This will be a major learning experiance for us as all past experiance was in the Arizona high desert. We will have many more preditors and more extream weather to deal with. We will have to take those things into consideration as we build their housing and yard.

Lisa's Painting

Operation Free Bird Alaska

OK HERE IS A SNEEK PEEK INTO THE BIG NEWS! A PREVIEW OF THINGS TO COME!

Ok so....We moved to Alaska for a fresh start after things in Arizona started to deteriorate. Ken couldn't find work, we lost the beautiful custom home that we made ourselves. All prospects of moving to New Mexico (like we had planned) were swept away like dust off the high desert. We had few options. Living in a travel trailer at my grandmother's with the county breathing down our backs telling us we had to leave. After some sweet talkimg from Trapper about all that Alaska had to offer we finally gave into the idea of the frozen north. Trapper had 48 acres near Manley Hot Springs that he wanted to return to. He offered that we could move up as well and he put the land in a warrenty deed, with myself and all my siblings listed on it. So, with our last bit of savings and money from selling stuff off we made the big move. Then Ken and Trapper built our duplex cabin. Trapper got phone and internet set up and at first we had open access. After we got all moved into the house Trapper went back to AZ for the winter. While he was gone we kept his side and the battery bank from freezing. We had to make some adjustments such as bringing the large battery bank inside and running off the small bank in order to keep things from freezing without spending a small fortune on gas in the generator. He returned in February and things started to change. We no longer had access to phone or internet unless we asked permission. Aside from the building of the house we haven't asked Trapper for anything. We have provided our own food in addition to the items donated from new friends. We were buying fuel to run the generator etc... Ken started working odd jobs then got a steady job driving bus for the Manley Village Council. Village Express, No thats not Ken in the picture. Here is were we commence OFBA. Our plan for a fresh start didn't include being under someone elses authority. Now that we have the means (though limited) we are taking the needed steps toward our independance.

Phase 1 OFBA: POWER - Here is were we start getting our own power set up. We already had a generator what we needed to start were batteries, a charger and an inverter. We started with 8 new batteries and a Xantrex inverter/charger. Our luck though we got a bum inverter and we are still working on getting it replaced. The battery bank however is working well with a small 750W inverter and a Carquest battery charger. Down the road we will be adding solar panels as we can afford it.



Phase 2 OFBA: Communication - We now have our own internet Hughesnet set up complete with a Magic Jack phone. All powered by our very own power supply. No more asking permission to make contact with the outside world. The Hughesnet is crazy expensive but the Magic Jack is really cheap so it kinds balances out.

Phase 3 OFBA:  Comming Soon ;) Detailes of this step are still to come as we are not 100% sure what to wrap into this phase. I can say as part of it we are building a large storage shed/work shop 10'x16'. That way Ken has his own enclosed area to store his tools and work on the Many projects that will be comming up.

I would not list any of these phases as complete as they will be under modification as time and funding allow. More details are still to come on all phases.

Planting: My little starter garden is doing well now that I have planted my starts in bigger pots. I have some tomatoes, pumpkins, onions and beets that are doing well. I will plant more according to the planting schedule.

Blessings to all our friends, family and readers,

Sarah Sue