Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted once again.  This has been such a busy year for us. 

We moved out to our "new" homestead at the end of July.  It was a bittersweet move.  One where we knew we could accomplish a lot of our goals....but one that neither of us were sure we were ready for.  I was scared to leave the simplicity we found in town and rightfully so.  We had been working on the house since May.....and made a lot of major progress...but it still seems that there's lots we could be doing!  Our job is never done! 

Part of our plan is to open a car lot here on our property.  We bought a place right on the highway where we'd have lots of traffic to view our things.  When we moved, we moved it all into the building that was to later become the car lot office....and then gradually have moved stuff into the house as we're ready for it.  Well....we're now down to crunch time.  The State inspector will be coming to make sure our building is an acceptible place of business.....and we need to have it look more presentable!  WOW...we sure had stuff stuffed in there!  We spent a lot of last week dragging things around...moving it into our basement onto tables and pallets, hoping to keep it dry.  One day of doing that is enough to bring this pregnant mama down.  I sure do wear out easily these days!  I didn't lift anything too heavy, but just being on my feet all day can really take it's toll.  We have a few cars set out on our newly gravelled lot and have gotten a lot of interest in the first few days that they've been out there.  Nothing has sold yet, but we're feeling really optimistic. 

Another thing that is new to us, is that we are heating our house with wood.  We are really enjoying this!  We have a wood furnace that sits outside.  It warms water up to 180 degrees and then pumps it into a radiator in the basement which blows it through the central heat ductwork.  It is all controlled by a normal thermostate just like central heat.  We also have a propane furnace that will use the same vents, but we sure enjoy getting to hear for next to nothing.  My husband has been following the electrical line tree trimmers around picking up whatever they leave.  They said he was welcome to take what he wanted.  He managed to get 3 truck loads of it today!  That should last quite a while! 

We've had our share of adventures living out here, too.  First on the list......  MICE!  EWWWW.  We knew that mice would likely be a problem, but now that it's getting colder, we're beginning to see that problem.  We're stuffing any potential mouse holes with steel wool....and setting traps.  We had 3 kittens and a mama cat when we moved out here but they've all disappeared, so we just recently got 2 more kittens to go along with our one house cat that we brought when we moved.  Hopefully they will all help to control the population......and in the mean time, we'll be able to continue to fix any potential place the mice could find their way in.  So far, they seem to be fewer and fewer.  We hope that it continues that way! 

Another recent adventure.....I was in the kitchen cooking....and saw out the back window a bunch of smoke in the middle of a patch of grass.  I couldn't imagine why the grass would be smoking, so I asked my husband if there's a reason why because you just never know what he's been up to outside....lol.  As I was telling him, it got thicker and flames started bursting up.  I noticed that his truck wasn't too far away from the fire, so I began to worry a bit.  My husband and son ran out to investigate and sure enough, it was a grass fire that was beginning to spread somewhat quickly thanks to the windy day.  My son had just dumped the ashes from the wood stove and I didn't realize that was their dumping place.  I guess there were still some hot embers that caught it on fire.  Had I not been in the kitchen at that time, things could've really gotten out of control quickly.  The ended up grabbing the waterhose and putting out with that. 

We've had a dump truck knock down electric lines, a tractor pull up propane lines by mistake and a tractor run over the water meter causing a large leak.  We're just full of adventure.  No wonder I miss the simplicity of the other house!  LOL  I don't think that things will continue like this....as they seem to be calming down already.  I just really need to get the inside of the house in order so that I can decorate for Christmas and then soon after, bring a baby home without quite as much to do.  You should hear all the plans that we still have!  Every day, my husband wakes up with a mental list of his priorities and it's always very long!  Luckily a lot of our to do list isn't things that have to be done on a regular basis...a lot of them are one time type things....and as we finish a lot of those, we'll be able to get into more of a routine.  Welcome to "farm" living!