• Ramblings

    Returning to the Wilderness

    I am never going to be a regular blogger, I might as well just admit it and be done. Now that’s out of the way… A lot of people like to say they’ve been busy when they’ve been absent from something for a while, and maybe they have been, I don’t know their lives. I do know that usually when I say, “I’ve been so busy,” it means I’ve been binge-watching Grace and Frankie, avoiding anything that might require me to put on pants, and staring off into space while I contemplate what the color blue might taste like. However, recently… Okay, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Not gonna lie. There are…

  • Ramblings

    If It’s a Job, Do It

    Tomorrow we are going to start clearing out The Shed. It’s extremely important to me that we start while it’s still chilly because the nonsensical part of my brain believes that’s going to help prevent any hantavirus issues. This is the same part of my brain that believed the doll I once feared would come to life and murder me, would not come to life and murder me if I put it under a cardboard box in my closet. I’ve tried reasoning with myself but I’m very stubborn. It’s going to be a lot of work because the people who lived here before us left a ton of junk inside.…

  • Health & Fitness,  Ramblings

    Tomatoes on the Vine and Onions

    I’ve been experiencing a growing desire to live a more environmentally conscious, self-reliant, healthier lifestyle. We cut processed foods from our diets a few years ago. There is still the occasional craving for Hot Pockets, I’m not going to lie, but for the most part we eat wholesome, local, organic, non-GMO foods. It’s not cheap. I don’t even want to tell you that our grocery bills run around $350 per week, but I will, because they do. My first apartment was only $450 a month. Good grief. To help offset some of that, we’re planning to grow a lot of our own produce this year. We have plans for rutabagas,…

  • Creatures,  Ramblings

    Little Lights in My Heart

    I just deleted nine drafts — nine drafts of posts I attempted to write over the last five months. I am still at risk for bursting into tears, so I’m going to make this return to the blog a list that doesn’t really go into any detail. 1. On September 29th, Reyka was put to sleep. I have to write that out without much thought or this will become the tenth draft. 2. The day after Reyka died, a tiny kitten showed up. His innocent joy and desperate desire for love helped to temper our sadness and pain. I would have loved to keep him around but fear Levee’s chasing drive would have gotten the best…

  • Creatures,  Ramblings

    The Longer I Run

    The window beside my desk overlooks a huge thicket canopying a substantial ditch. Six months ago I noticed a tiny bobbed tail cat using a small passage through the brambles to sneak around to the back porch and steal Pickwick’s food. The first time I saw him I opened the window, said “Hey ki…” and the cat bolted. Weeks went by and I repeated the process until finally he stopped running. The next step was to sneak outside before he got to the back yard. More often than not he would hear the door squeak open and run back to the protection of the thicket. Occasionally I’d manage to get outside without him noticing, but as soon as he…