Finally Residing

Hello framily (friends and family),

I hope this update has found you well.  I apologize for the overdue post.  I don’t know about you, but the most interesting posts are ones that a milestone has been made.  We were hoping to hit that milestone sooner, but you know how that goes.  Nothing ever goes according to plan, no matter how much you plan and desire it.   These two weeks started with a bunch of little projects to get out of the way.  Rick worked on putting the screen over all the air vents to keep the wee beasties out.  He also added tape to the tops of all the house wrap for added protection from the weather.  Meanwhile, I got a bigger check off the list.  The food forest is completely planted now.  I just need to make mulch to cover it all.  I want to add some logs to the line the center path and the boundary as well. 

In life itself, we deal with the roller coaster effect.  We have many highs and lows.  Yes, the lows suck, but you really appreciate the highs more because of them.  I feel it more keenly since we started this journey.  There is way more variables in this life versus the city life.  The weather has been challenging.  We have had some rain and the two days of cold.  We had our first ice in our mud puddles. 

Rick got all the electrical ran through out the cabin.  We have added majority of the insulation as of Tuesday.  Not too bad for free repurposed insulation donated from my former employer, and one package of insulation from our neighbor Ty.  We even got some of our paper backing done. 

You will notice in one of the pictures the metal on our trailer.  That is going to be the backer for our fireplace and for the shower walls.  I surely can’t wait to see it installed.  That will be a little bit down the road.  On Wednesday, we headed to Linden to get our license plate.  We first had to go to the library to get proof of insurance printed off.  Headed into the county clerk’s office.  When we paid off the jeep, they sent us a new title.  I just put it in a safe place.  They majorly messed up and forgot to take the lien on the title.  We had to drive all the way back home to see if we received a letter in the mail.  We didn’t.  I called the bank and they emailed one to us.  It was back into Linden.  Back to the library to print the letter, and back to the clerk’s office.  Guess what I did.  I took the title into the camper and forgot to put it into the jeep.  So, back home again and back into town.  I was beyond irritation.  The process was quick and painless.  The best part….renewel will be $29 a year versus the $100 back in Michigan. 

We then headed into Columbia to get our driver licenses.  Well, that turned into a nightmare too.  Even though we have real ids from Michigan, they still require birth certificates.  So, we left there and headed to Lowes.  We got the insulation to finish the cabin.  Picked up some other essentials too.  I even got some flower bulbs 50 percent off.  They are for an entrance garden by the road.  I am excited about that little project.  By the time we got home, we were exhausted and over it.  We did get some great news.  Glenn from Landstruck and Dale from D & S Solar got possession of several skids full of food, pet food, personal products and more.  They were offering them all for free to the residents of the local Landstruck communities. 

Friday morning, we had to get up and find Rick birth certificate.  He knew which box it was in, just had no idea where in the black hole which we affectionately call the conex.  We located the box.  Then it was time to head to the food meet.  We got lots of treasures.   We headed to Columbia once again.  This time we were successful in getting our licenses.  So, we are officially Tennessee residents.  Off to Lowes to find a part or two for our ibc tote, picked up a few more flower bulbs, and a light up Christmas gnome.  We headed back to the food meet part two.  Picked up more treasures there. It was like Christmas for all the residents that stopped by.  Everyone was so kind.  No one was being greedy.  It was good to meet more neighbors.  Back to camper we went to just chill.  Two days of running round had exhausted us.   Landstruck did a video about the food meet plus he promoted my blog and another resident's business. He is a chain saw sculpter. Here is the video.

https://www.tiktok.com/@landstruck.com/video/7572745994266332446?_r=1&_t=ZP-91PHgV5eosI

This week we were struck with an Asian lady beetle invasion. The first two days were just awful.  The cabin was just covered with them.  They were all over us.  The worst part was the biters and the ones that would fly up in our face.  It is also interesting drying down the road, because you would think we were in a hale storm.  Their nasty guts all over the windshield.  They are still around, but not nearly as bad.  I do not ever remember seeing so many at once.  That is one thing we really have to get used to here…all the bugs.

Saturday was the big day.  We finished up all the insulation.  We have got a few little projects done.  The locations for the water heater to vent and the heat pipe for the diesel heater.  That is our back-up source of heat.  If you watch any videos from preppers or homesteaders, it is all about redundancies.    What a difference in there as far as quiet and temperature.  It is going to do us well come winter.

Sunday, we got all the barriers up.  Reflectix on the ceilings.  This will hold in heat and keep heat out.  We got paper up over all the insulation.  In the bathroom, we put plastic up on all the walls with tape over all the seams.  We are so ready for the next step.

Here it is Monday morning.  Today, we are headed into town to pick up dry wall and order our metal for the bathroom roof.  We will also be loading the blog, since adding pictures has been a nightmare here at home.  So, this is where I will leave you.  You will have to read the next blog to see what projects we conquered.  We thank you so much for stopping by  our blog and being a part of our journey.  We really appreciate the support.  Take care.