Confessions of an Overwhelmed Part Time Homesteader

As Charlotte pointed out to me, it's been a while since I posted. I really do apologize for that. We've been working around the homestead, worrying about the bees, and trying to sell our home in town. Have you ever felt overwhelmed with life to the point of being unable to do anything at all? I have been pretty much at that particular point - and it left me with what I suppose is "writer's block". I'm back on track now though, and ready to write yet another rambling blog full of my stream of consiousness.

The bees have given us quite a bit of stress lately - we were seriously questioning the health of two of the six hives. I contacted Bob W. from the Department of Agriculture and he agreed to come on out and help us examine each of our hives. Bob W. is saint - full of compassion, understanding, and a great deal of knowledge about bees. We had a wonderful visit with him, and while I wouldn't say he gave us the best news in the world about our hives, he did explain an awful lot of things to us and promised to come out again in a month to take another look and see how the girls are doing. I wrote about his visit on The Bee Buzz Blog and posted some pictures on the website.

My parents came up from Georgia for a week and we all stayed out on the homestead. It was a great time and I can't believe how quickly the time flew by. We accomplished a great deal during their visit. Bernie and Daddy knocked down the old Wild Cherry Tree that was threatening to fall on the house. They also greased Bernie's backhoe and got it in good working order. Daddy and I spent a great deal of time removing all those strips in the walls of the mobile home and then mudding them. We got just about half of it finished before he left and I'm ready to prime it and then paint the walls. I'll put up some pics when I do that so y'all can see the difference.

We still haven't sold our home in town and it's getting down right depressing. We're trying not to let it get us down, but after spending a week on the homestead it's getting harder and harder to leave. We spent our 20 year wedding anniversary out there and Bernie's birthday. It was really nice. I almost cried when we had to leave.

On the upside, we saw turkeys in the yard this week! Man, are they big! We haven't seen signs of them in a while, so laying eyes on them was a pleasant surprise. I'm hoping to see one of them on the table for the Thanksgiving meal this year.

That's it for now. I'll try to be better about keeping in touch.

Bee Free,
Penny