Rain, Rain and More Rain

October has been wet. Saying that is truly and understatement. I really think we've had more dreary days than we have had hours of sunlight. It's definitely fall and Kevin and I disagree on how bad the winter is going to be this year. I'm voting for cold, damp and miserable.

Lots of new articles on the website (find them here). So we've been making good use of the time indoors. More articles will follow soon, including the new well house pictures and such.

The grandchild is growing like weed and talking up a storm. Complete sentences too - albeit short one, but not bad for not quite being three yet.

Other news includes the release of my book Kats Tales: Journeys into the Velvet Darkness - Revealed Evil. It is doing pretty well on both Amazon and Smashwords. The next book, tentatively titled, Traba of Tredecim (The Table of the Thirteen) is on track for a year end release. The audio of Revealed Evil is almost half completed and it should see an early spring release. So for all that, I'm very pleased.

Fall is Quickly Approaching

and at least for the day, the rain has stopped (momentarily anyway). Things have been hectic as we have been getting ready for the season change. Kevin built a new well house and the garden is about done for the year.

Much of the summer has been taken up with getting my first book, Kats Tales: Journeys Into the Velvet Darkness - Revealed Evil published. Thirteen short horror stories, written over a number of years, exploring the wickedness that lives in the heart. The book is available on Amazon or in ebook formats on Smashwords.

Between the normal homestead stuff, writing content for cash and the book, we've had little time to do much else.

But now that the outside stuff is slowing down, look for updates to the website in the very near future. We've got a lot of new articles ready to go - just have to find the time to post them.

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.