Lots of muddling to do

1/10/11 Monday
It was a rough start for the morning. Woke up at 5:00, started the fire in the woodstove to drive away the chill that had settled in the house overnight, and we began our preparations for the day. Cherie gave me a list of things she’d like done, fixed coffee, and I scrambled some eggs for us. At 6:30 a headache hit. It came on quick and hard to the point I turned the news I try to watch off just to reduce the noise, and crawled under the covers to protect my eyes from the overhead light Cherie needed on to do her make up. I got up and started her truck so it was warmed up by the time she left and coming back in, hid under the covers again. Crawled out to start the day with prayers, kissed her goodbye, and went back to trying to hide from the headache that pounded my temples. It’s ten o’clock now and the headache has diminished to the point I can function. I resent even losing the three hours it cost me for there is much to do.

We made some progress on the bathroom over the weekend. Got as much of the wall built as I could but had to wait till we located doors to finish because the last part of the wall must be just right size wise for the doors to fit. We went to Lowes, because we have some gift cards for them, and decided this job required bi-fold doors and got them. We are so grateful for the gifts and help we get, including some Christmas presents, that can be applied to this project, but necessary things like gasoline and food eat into that despite our intention for it not to. Our appeal with the VA regarding their improper seizing of all federal money, such as the USDA payments for the farm and our income tax refunds, is still in the “Pending” file. The VA rep said he’s seen things sit in that status for years with no movement and it means the government will continue to seize all federal money we have a right to. This is hurting us real bad and now it looks like we won’t get an income tax refund this year despite qualifying for it, plus it means I can’t qualify for any USDA programs or help to build this farm.


I want to write about our year, 2010, kind of do an end of the year review, but wanted it to be an upbeat, inspiring narrative, to look at the positive, not the negative. That will be hard to do for it has been a tough year with many hard times, but I will try. Fact is I tell things the way they are, without fake window dressing to dress them up in a way that is not true. As my mother in law once said “I live in reality, not fantasy”. Don’t remember exactly how she worded it but that was essentially the message. So to do this I must go back and read this journal, to use it as intended, a tool to remember events gone by. It’s 10:30 already and I have much to do so hesitate to spend valuable time on this, but feel it’s important to do so. There are many other things I’ve neglected that involve writing and this laptop, bible studies and letters among others.

Today Cherie needs me to run some chores and I desire to work on the bathroom some more. We talked to Ricardo at church yesterday, and he expressed his frustration and regret regarding the plumber friend who disappeared on us and left us in this lurch. Ricardo apologized for him and promised to see what he could do. All we want at this point are the right parts. This plumber came in and said everything we had was wrong so we returned them to the store because he said he would get us the right parts from his plumbing supply house. At this point I don’t expect the plumber to show up or do any work, but I would at least like the parts so I can muddle through it myself.

There’s lots of muddling to do so time for me to get moving. Cold weather is coming so I cut some firewood and probably need to cut some more up today. No snow or moisture in the forecast, just cold as in 16 degree mornings and 35 degree highs. With the woodstove as our principle source of heat we’ll go through a lot of wood. Eventually we plan on getting a nice efficient air tight woodstove, that will eek out a lot of heat from each piece of wood and can last all night when laid right. We’ve got lots of plans and dreams but in the meantime do the best with what we’ve got.