Update on Progress

My last post on July 6 heralded the delivery of my Shouse and Shedroom. I was absolutely delighted to get started converting them into my home. I dug in and got to work right away, which I will be blogging about soon. I just wanted to pop in today to fill you in on why it has been so long since I last posted.

I live in the sticks, as I have stated before. In the sticks I have no 4g wireless service. In fact, I cannot even get data where I live. This will not be a problem at the end of this month when my internet, cable, and phone lines are installed, but for now it is a HUGE limitation.

Hello? Can You Hear Me Now?

My first week here in Oklahoma has been both eventful and uneventful. Happy and sad at the same time. I cannot begin to tell you how nice the folks are here. I have had nothing but positive interactions with everyone I have met. Let me give you some examples:

Ugh! I have the Flu

Yesterday morning I woke up nearly unable to move. Every inch of my body hurt. I stayed in bed as long as I could before finally dragging myself to the bathroom to get ready for work. I figured I had overdone it doing yard work the other day. By the time I made it to work I was feeling even worse, if you can believe that, and was promptly sent home. I have had a fever hovering at around 100+. I ache everywhere. I slept most of yesterday and finally had to wake up long enough to put in for a sub for today and get lesson plans sent. I haven't felt this icky in a long time.

On a positive note, it is just a little more than a month until I make the big move. I called on a dumpster to make gutting the old building a tidier proposition and to know that my property won't get all junked up with piles of scrap building material. I am suffering from a little sticker shock, but I know I can't avoid the expense, so I will make due.

I am still on the hunt for a wood heat stove. Many that I find listed on Craigslist here in Arizona look unsafe to use. Some look like folks  had them in their yards for the last 10 years. While I know I need heat, I don't want some ugly rusted eyesore in my living room. So the hunt goes on. My limited budget makes shopping that much more difficult, but I know, when it is meant to be, I will find the "one." If it comes down to it, I may just have to go for a season using a space heater until I can afford the "squirrel" stove I love so much.

Time to go back to sleep.

Happy Thursday everyone.

Now How Did I Do That?

Ugh. I messed up my blog somehow. I managed to screw up the "comments" on here and I have NO IDEA how the hell I did it. To top  it off, I have been so busy lately I have not had time to sit down and problem solve. I am behind on so much.*

I thought I would give a brief update on my Shouse and homestead progress just to remind myself that all this craziness is for a good purpose. So here is what has been going on around the farm lately:

Update on Progress

Feed Sack Totes: A Great Way to Recycle

This past weekend had it share of ups and downs. First for the down: My radiator blew. It was sort of my fault and sort of not. We noticed the clip for the fan (the fan is electric) was broken when we were replacing the water pump. We should have taped it to ensure its connection, but we didn't. Anyway, I was waiting for someone so we could leave for a weekend trip. While waiting, I left the car idling. Evidently the fan had disconnected and the car overheated. The next thing you know, steam was pouring out from under my hood. $145 later, I have a new radiator installed and need to purchase a new front grill. Yes, my luck was doubly bad when the hood release failed. In order to get the latch open, we had to bust in through the front grill. Replacing that part should be another $100. Meanwhile, my Jeep has a big, black smile.

Lost and Found Blogs

Last night I was searching through old emails to locate the contact information for the person who designed my logo for a podcast I produce. I came across an email confirmation for a Wordpress blog I started in 2010 and then promptly forgot about. Shortly after starting the blog I moved houses and I guess the blog just got trumped by all the drama of relocation and settlement. I find it rather sad. Somewhere out in cyber space is another webpage I started that is my first ever bucket list. I have no idea where that is, but finding this old blog has really got me thinking. How long do blogs and webpages that are not updated hang around on the web?

The scary answer is FOREVER. They simply don't "expire."

Most blog host sites that offer free blog space will not fry off inactive blogs. There are some rare exceptions to this rule. A good example of this is Geocities. I remember when I first started teaching Geocities was the most popular place to get a free teacher website. I started one and occasionally updated it, but eventually I switched schools and, out of site out of mind, I forgot about it. Geocities was eventually sold off, absorbed, tweaked, and ultimately 38 million individual sites were fried off when Yahoo, the company that acquired Geocities, decided to change the format. Geocities is only in existance in Japan now and my original website from 1999 is long gone. This is not unusual, but unless the actual website closes, chances are your stuff will still be chilling out there in cyberspace incomplete and lonely, just waiting for you to remember or rediscover it.

Despite my best efforts to Google myself and whatever I thought I named my bucket list, I cannot locate it yet. I am not too concerned as I have a more modern, updated version, but the idea of this internet detritus got me thinking about just how many abandoned or forgotten blogs there must be out there. The sheer number of websites and blogs out there that are lonely and not updated simply because they are forgotten is mind boggling. Estimates are that there are 12 million bloggers. Of the blogs created, 60% to 80% are abandoned within the first month. Most that are not abandoned are just updated sporadically at best, and then, with content that average reader has no interest in i.e. personal travel, family updates, etc. I found a great site that has research data about blogs and blogging at http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm which made for very interesting reading. I have found my forgotten blog is not alone by any means.

Will I ever find my original bucket list? Probably not. Do I really care? No. But I kind of look upon abandoned blogs as the trash of the internet. Who is going to clean up all this scrap? Arguments are they are like the library at Alexandria and no one should. We are free to use it for historical documentations. Snapshots of our modern times. Material ripe with our culture so that future generations of users can better understand those that came before. Whatever. I guess I will just add "Find my original bucket list" to my current bucket list.

Updates for Ease

I spent today updating some of the layout of this blog to make things easier. First, please note that "Related Posts" at the bottom of each blog update. This will help link together common ideas and related items that you may find of interest as well. Secondly, I updated and added to the links at the right of the page to items like my Facebook page, Pinterest boards, podcast feed, and other places around the net you may find interesting. Lastly, I added an email contact in the sidebar (just scroll down to locate it) in case you would like to shoot me an email.

I am considering setting up a chat room and forum area so that others can connect. Be sure to check back frequently as things around here are always a-changin'!