Resurfacing

What -- just happened. o_O

 I disappeared from the Blogging world for an entire WEEK!?!? Gracious, how did I manage that??? Hmm. Do y'all want me to apologize, or just skip the small talk and get to the good stuff? Eh, we'll go with the latter choice.

 So, what in the world happened since I last wrote?? Let's see... First off, I'm back in Missouri now. :) I got back on December 28th, and have been kept busy since then! I never did get a deer in Mississippi; maybe next year though.But it was awesome to visit the South again, and I definitely miss it.  

  Since coming back to MO, I've been occupied with burning cedar trees (well, burning the branches really... We're still trying to obliterate the colossal piles of downed trees so that what was once forest can now be pasture), milking cows, shooting guns, playing hockey on the frozen pond, watching Hobbit 2 a second time (*cough, cough*), and then two days ago I got to go see 'Frozen', which was excellent. In fact, I think it's almost better than 'How To Train Your Dragon', and that one's been a favorite for quite a while! Anyway, whatever... Y'all probably don't want to hear about movies. Sorry. 

 

  We've settled on a pretty good work routine over here for the winter, and that's doing barn chores from 8:30am to 9:30, and then doing 3 or 4 hours working on the wood piles (er, tree piles??). After that, it's every man for himself and we're all free to do whatever we want. Yeah, it's rough I tell ya'... Hehehe. ;) 

The weather here has been CRAZY!! It was juuuuuust starting to warm up when we suddenly had another cold snap, and now there's more snow outside! And apparently Monday's highest temperature is supposed to be -4!?!? I'm sure some of you are used to that, or at least aren't surprised by it. But hey, I'm from Oregon, so gimme' a break. The coldest I've experienced yet is 7F. I've never felt "below zero" kind of cold. Part of me is looking forward to it, just for the experience; and then the logical part of me is dreading it since it's going to be like -7 or -8 while I'm milking the cows. Oy vey. I'm so excited for spring time to come, and not just for wanting a reprieve from the cold. I just can't wait to see what this place looks like when everything is green and growing! It's already beautiful here and everything's dormant; I can't imagine what it's be like when things start coming back to life! And speaking of watching the changing seasons come... I'd like to announce that my host family and I decided this morning that I will officially be staying here for a full 12 months! We weren't sure at the beginning of all this if I should stay for 6 or 12 months, and decided to wait 30 days before making that decision. So wait we did, and today marks the 30th day since I left Yamhill County, OR. After some discussion this morning, we came to a unanimous vote of my staying here long-term. I admit that I'm really, really happy with this decision. Now we're all talking about getting my microgreen business up and running, raising and selling some hogs in the spring, signing up for Farmer's Markets, and a couple other enterprise ideas that I have up my sleeve.

 I have the feeling that life is going to get really crazy when Spring comes... But oh am I looking forward to it. :) Adventures ahead!!