The KatWalk

In my last post I was bragging on how wonderful Kevin has the front yard looking. Well, he's managed to improve on what was already almost perfect. He built a new walkway bridge and gate that is absolutely gorgeous.

Named the KatWalk, the bridge connects the driveway to the front yard across the small retaining wall we built several years ago. Along with an awesome gate, he put a sexy little bench on the walkway that probably no one but us will ever sit on - it just looks way cool.

He'll be back at the mill here in a day or so, and once he has the material cut, the summer kitchen will be completed. I swear, the man never quits or takes a day off (unlike me, who is perfectly content to sit behind the computer and write when there isn't any work screaming to be done).

Summer has kicked in, with temps here in the high eighties to low nineties and humidity that feels like 200 percent. Which leads to the summer thunderboomers which crop up in the late afternoons and evenings. Such is the weather in Arkansas and I don't expect it will ever change. All I can say is a big thank you to the person who invented the home air conditioner.

20 Pints of Sweetness

Well, got the frozen strawberries all turned into pretty pint jars of Strawberry preserves. They are going to taste so good this winter (okay, won't be waiting till winter, but have to eat this one jar of store bought stuff first cuz it's already open). Later this week, I'll be making plum jelly and from there it's blackberry season and judging from the blackberry canes, it's going to be a great year for berries.

Kevin spent most of the day weed eating. Soon, he's going to have to break down and buy a mower because we now really have a yard thanks to all his efforts. What started as a small patch of grass under the clothesline has expanded into a wonderful array of color as the roses, daylilies and wildflower garden have burst into bloom and the grass has exploded all over the front fenced in area of the property.

Hopefully in another month, I'll be canning tomatoes. The cucumbers and squashes will be another project too as they continue to grow. And then there are the eggplant and peppers too. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water for stuffed peppers and fried green tomatoes.

As promised...

We've been adding lots of new content to the website, including a new video and a new slideshow. More to come, this weekend and in the future.

We've been doing a lot of pea picking this week. Put up almost ten pounds in the last harvest from the garden and will probably have that much again when we pick tomorrow or Monday.

It's almost time for making strawberry preserves too. I've frozen pounds and pounds of the beautiful red berries and after this next picking, will begin canning preserves. That alone will save a ton at the grocery store, as much as we both like plain, simple peanut butter and jelly (or preserve) sandwiches.

Kevin's been hard at work on the summer kitchen and me, when I'm not writing articles, I'm working on what I hope will be my next screenplay. So we've both been at things slowly but steady and in the end, it will get all done.

So enjoy the new articles and keep watching for more in the future. We're back!

We've Gone High-Speed

Finally, after years of waiting, Wild Blue came
last Tuesday and installed an Internet Satellite system for us. It's amazing, it's remarkable,it's almost like I'm in love all over again. No more dial-up and no waiting forever for a page to load. I mean, now I don't have time to get up and
go get a cup of coffee while waiting for my favorite writing board to show up on the screen.

And downloads and updates - don't have to wait until night time to let the computer do its thing without being interrupted. Bottom line, we are happy campers.

That said, we're updating Backwoods Living. Already it has a clean, shinier, fresher look and over the next couple of days we'll be adding more content. So if you haven't been there in a while,
now is the time to go check it out.

Around the homestead, the growing and harvesting season is in full swing. Peas, asparagus and strawberries are keeping me busy at the moment getting them in the freezer for later use. Not to mention what we eat fresh. The garden is fully
planted with tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, onions and garlic. The fruit trees have small apples, plums and plumcots and it shouldn't be too long before we start filling jars with plum and plumcot jelly. The blackberry vines are full of flowers and we're expecting another bumper crop of berries again this year.

The rain this year has been steady and often, so much so that putting the garden in was delayed, but with any luck the pattern is changing a bit.

Kevin still has several tons of logs, salvaged from the February ice storm, sitting at the mill waiting for slicing into boards. The summer kitchen, where I hope to do all my canning this summer is almost complete.

And the grandson, well Zayden is now almost 2 1/2 and growing like a weed. He's typically two and doing a great job of keeping us on our toes. He's a joy to be around (most of the time) and now that he's becoming more vocal, a whole lot
more interesting. :)

So we've been busy. Watch the website for even more in-depth articles about everything we've been up to.

Kevin's Been Busy

Finally, after many a month, Kevin spent the icy day yesterday updating the website with a baker's dozen of new articles from the both of us. As winter continues, we both going to try and do our best to add articles at least on a monthly basis. You can always look for new posts here.

Yesterday was Arkansas's first ice storm of the year. Not a huge event, (we didn't lose power) but it will take a day or two of the promised warmer temps to thaw everything out.

The kitchen remodel is almost done. Watch the website for pictures and videos of just how much it has changed. It's absolutely beautiful.

Beyond that, we've both just been writing a ton of articles, (alas for other people) and working on the mill and yard. We have entered a few screenplay contests, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

And the boy, that wonderful grandson of ours, is just about to turn two. Time flies, especially with a growing child.

Back At It Again

Okay, so it’s been months and months, but to be honest, I’ve been busy. Between the content writing I do, the garden, the harvest and everything else, I’ve spent little time at this blog or on the webpages. But, that is changing. Kevin has posted several new articles to Backwoods Living and I’ll be doing the same in the coming weeks.

Plus, we’ve started something new. Zayden’s Toys – old fashioned, folk art types of real, homemade wooden trucks. Why? You ask. Simple, we saw (and actually purchased) one of the cheap, plastic trucks that are on the market today. Does Zayden like it? Well, he likes the noises the steering wheel makes, but that’s about it. And one of his action figures can fit in the cab. What more could a little boy want?

From the time Kevin brought in his ‘new’ dump truck, it became his favorite toy. Why? Because he can stack his wooden blocks (also homemade) into the dump bed and dump them all over the living room floor. He can also push through a wall of blocks that he stacks himself. (For some reason, this seems to be great fun.)

We decided that if Zayden had so much fun playing with his dump truck, other little boys would too. We expanded the line to include the dump truck and a flat bed with push blade, a crane truck that will hold a small load, and a huge tractor trailer rig. So, Zayden is a happy boy and hopefully there will be many more happy boys around the country enjoying their trucks too.

So stay tuned, folks. All of our websites are undergoing updates; Lo Gap Woodworks, Little Red Cedar Mill, the new Zayden’s Toys and continuously on Backwoods Living. Check them out if you get a chance.

On Dead Modems and Backup Laptops

Okay, so I finally caught up with this century a couple of months ago and retired my trusty ThinkPad 600. In its place, I bought a ThinkPad T42. It has everything, wi-fi, wireless radio and a host of other features I don’t need, plus it has XP Pro on it. That, I finally figured out, I did need as it allowed me to access software and some websites that Windows 98SE couldn’t touch.

But three months later, the DVD/CD-R died. IBM/Lenovo replaced it within three days. On Sunday, the modem just up and died. One minute working, the next minute gone. No back-up modem for the machine either.

So what did I do to meet writing deadlines? Pulled out the 600 of course. Met all the deadlines and remembered why that laptop has lasted me six years. It is one tough computing wonder.

I could send the T42 back to IBM/Lenovo and have it fixed. But I didn’t really want to be without it – I’ve come to really like the feel of it for writing, surfing and a host of other computer stuff. So, instead, I bought a couple of PCMCIA modems and now I’m back in business. With a double backup – extra modem. And the 600.

I had thought about selling the 600, but now I know for sure I’m going to keep it. I’ve formatted an extra hard drive and now it will be my DOS machine. It flies. And when I’m serious about writing, well, there’s no World Wide Web enticing me to procrastinate.

Best of both worlds, me thinks.