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Oh, well, yes. I probably did need a break. And letting my mother know last night was the right way to go about it. Sure, I didn't want to breach the topic. Doing it last night did two things. It prepared both of us for today and took care of a potentially unpleasant thing so that I could relax and sleep with nothing on my mind. Now, if Sam hadn't been such a dinker-do I wouldn't have been stressing about her until bedtime, which was stretched for concern. Usually, if she is in, she comes by and lets me know through the night. She must have been extra tired? Odd though, because she was a nutball all night. Sassy has been a little playing girl all night and morning too.
I may, literally, do nothing today. I don't think it is wear and tear so much as just my heart acting up a bit. It does that from time. If I take a day off, right when it starts, I think it does help. When I can't, it takes a bit longer to recover. I am doing better all the time though, and more aware. Much more aware. My awareness, as well, is more accumulative. I don't lose all gains to knowledge and strength and stamina as fast as I used to seem to do. The cycle, if I had to say, is broken. Health and mind are coming back. That doesn't mean I am healthy, hale, and full volume. I am still quite ill. It is just a much better regulated thing, one that can be managed. I won't be doing wind sprints any time soon. I won't be be benching 500 pounds by summer's end. I might still not get out of my home all that often. But I am setting goals, doing real work, mostly making appointments, and figuring out some physical activity. I am even throwing in some things that will require daily, or nearly daily, efforts. If this and next year goes well with the garden, the following year will see me into buying chickens. If that goes well for a year or two, perhaps a she milk goat and a meat kid to eventually go with her.
My home is clean. I have replaced some things by myself. I think I can keep up on things much better. Then again, there will be times where I fall. I still have no way to... fill for that. And catching up after is... very difficult. I don't know. I'll... figure it out. I would say to get busy, but you can get busy relaxing too, if you have the time. It's not always a bad thing. Later.
Oh lawsy! I won't take on a milk goat myself. Talk about slavery to one's hobby! Six AM and six PM seven days a week for up to 10-11 months per year. No vacations, no respite, unless you have indulgent neighbors willing to take up the slack.
ReplyDeleteMy plans for goats are for after I retire, and then meat only. Let the kids run with the nanny and harvest them at one year. I'd even like to have some neighbor with goats be the keeper of the billy, so I don't have to. Borrow him for a week once a year and be done with the hassle.
We had goats when I was growing up. For many years we were dirt poor, so the goat milk was a lifeline, but after the finances improved, Mom gave up the milk goats. And billys are stanky pains in the posterior. Their mere presence on the property contributes a "goaty" flavor to the milk. So best to have him be an off-site service.
Now if SHTF, I can easily wean the kids and take the milk, but not in any scenario short of that, thank you.
Okay, yeah, I know this. But I have it that some goats can be milked once a day. And, I do have neighbors with kids... uhrm, children... actually both... who can and have let me know they would be willing to fill in. And, 'xactly, as to the billy. It will be a rented affair. I'd heard about the more bitter milk, and trouble with, billies. Already thought these things out.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to figure out automatic feeding, too. First for chickens, then for goats. A check on that just to make sure the device is loaded and working, then a milking. If I get to two, and start making cheese, I might even consider going in for a milking machine (still a lot of work to keep them clean, clean, clean, and clean!). I might even just set it so I can call the neighbors if I am going to be in town, or even asleep wrongly, for a while, on top of say visiting BMan or such. That way they will already know what to do, how to do it, before they are tested.
Dirt poor allows one to see... just how good it is to have a few coins to spare. It offers incentive like nothing else, unless the government makes it tolerable enough. Thankfully the state wasn't pushing that on poor people at the time, and culture hadn't fall so far that it is considered acceptable, or you might be on some "gentile gov reservation".
Remember the "gas crisis" of the early '70's? My father had just recently purchased a half share of an independent gas station. The oil companies used the opportunity of the crisis to consolidate and force independent operators out of business through pricing structures and minimum purchase requirements. He made almost no money for a few years and ended up signing over his half of the business to his partner (who ended up out of business himself a few years later). Meanwhile the debt he took on to purchase the business still needed to be paid.
ReplyDeleteI could have inherited his business if it had worked out. The experience did teach me that a patch of land with a garden and some animals can go a long way to keeping body and soul together in hard times.
Yes, and if you are willing to do raise meat and crop before you have to, you can save or put a lot more money toward other things. That's... what I am thinking... Just limited by health. Then again, I'm not doing it purely for profit, but to set up for actual survival... learning skills and such... If there is time.
ReplyDeleteWas the small business betrayal during the Nixon, Ford, or Peanut teeth admin? The crunch, really, started in the early 70's and lasted until Reagan, give or take. So I'm not sure which admin was involved (thought there is a lot of slop from one to the next and even several presidents later or more in some cases).
Yes, I remember the gas crunch. It's just that I wasn't buying gas, paying utilities, and all, so didn't really feel the crunch. That and I lived in small towns, so never saw the gas lines except on television. I know the crunch was from the early 70's on to Reagan. Peanut commie president made it worse, and allowed Iran to go from a slightly corrupt ally to a totally evil enemy. The more I remember Cawter, the more I wish him harm. No, not death, just poverty without the option of food stamps and such. (Or exile to NK or China.)