Who Am I
I did a terse introductory post the first day I joined steemit. I feel a great need for privacy and thought I had to write something right away, so it was to the point, mentioning those things I want known about me and the things I care about.
I am writing this for thl and because today I wrote two comments that reminded me of why I joined.
I am an older person, have decided to live a reclusive life because social interactions often upset me and I do not want to be offensive to others. We are all better off this way.
This winter I took intensive care of my three-legged, dying Portuguese Water Dog to the point that I didn't even go for visits with my out of state family (I do usually socialize with them) because she was too sick to take to the local groomer/boarder. This was my whole life for months. I could not imagine life without her. I kept her alive and comfortable for as long as I could. (crying here)
We finally had to take her to be put down because she had reached that point that her life didn't seem to have enough quality left and I think she was in some pain. She had always been a food stealer. Her only joy at the end was eating. I made her a last meal which she gobbled and then she went home.
So what do I do with my life now?
Phase One
I raised my 3 boys and occasionally worked outside the home at a health food store and food coop. Having those boys to love and care for was my whole life and I was happy. They were separated in age by 9 years and 6 years so I got to spend a good part of my life doing this.
Phase two: Life beyond 45
When the youngest went off to school I started looking for a "real" job and ended up working in the reference department and at the reference desk at an Ivy league college. It was a very public position working with students, teaching them how to use the library. I loved it. When I was not at the desk I learned HTML. I loved that too and offered to make subject guides and web pages for anyone who wanted one so I got a lot of opportunity to learn the language.
Phase three: Retirement
When I retired I offered to make a web page for our new church and this led to making websites for a lot of churches. I have since cut back but there are still a few sites that I maintain on a regular basis.
What is the amazing thing about our retirement is this location. In this “Live Free or Die” low tax state we have 29 acres and live at the top of a winding, steep driveway. We bought it for the views and they never disappoint. The house was a hunting lodge, is really small and came with a lot of problems. We continue to deal with them as we improve the property. We added two sets of solar panels which will never pay us back in our lifetime but good stewardship is important to us
My husband and I have planted fruit and nut trees, a few grape vines, blueberries, and raspberries, and flowers- a few each year. We have developed two large gardens on this rocky soil so most of the usable space on this woody hillside is now planted. Last year we were able to give away 2,000 pounds (he weighs it so we get a tax advantage and keep money away from the unwise hands of the government) of food to various places, including a soup kitchen in the nearby town. We built a chicken coop and every year try with great losses to raise chickens. At this point we have one last lonely chicken. Free ranging has been impossible up here in the Wilds of New Hampshire.
Of course we continue to age so this year we hired a young boy from the "city" nearby to help us with the more difficult work. He has been great and I hope we are having an influence on him. At first, I offered him a tuna sandwich and he says he doesn't eat meat or fish...he does eat bologna and American cheese on white bread and drinks Gatorade! We will see how he eats in a few months.
Phase Four!
After Cali died I knew I needed something to give my life interest again, asked my husband to give it some thought and he came up with steemit. He thought I could put up my Chick Stories. I tried at the beginning, but I didn’t see how they could be formatted in a way that pleased me.
Now it is more than one month later and I see that I can use some HTML mixed with the editor here and am starting to get the idea.
Again I have found something I love and it allows me to "make friends" virtually. I spend way too much time here just learning all it has to offer and reading all about so many new things.
You, the steemit community, have given us ideas that we have implemented to the benefit of the many people we get to feed, ideas about chickens, recipes, stories...all kinds of eye-opening insights.
Okay. This is long enough. I know I should not make an introduce post again so this is for the thl community, oldtimers, homesteaders, gardeners, recipe contributors and story writers.
Thanks to all of you and to Ned, the new Mayor of thl.
Greetings from KittyKate, our very skittish feral cat who protects us from invasive rodents.
Very heart felt post, thank you for sharing , I understand that it can be hard to do that when your have had a full life and many trials in it.
I hope you find the THL community to be a place that not only can you share your feeling but also bond with other that share theirs.
Take care and my the Lords blessing be upon you.
THL
Thank you so much. Yes, I am committed to steemit and this new adventure. We will see where it takes us.
Thank you for the blessings.
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STOPThank you, I did upvote but it shows no gain. Sorry.
Pleasure getting to know you a little better :) I am sorry to hear about the passing of your dear pup. I too can relate to the privacy issue, and I respect the fact you don't divulge too much on here. It's nice to see a picture of your cat and Lee the tiny feathered warrior.
Welcome once again and I wish you and yours a lovely day :)
Thank you so much. You were one of my first friends. I cherish our friendship and all your posts.
Yeah, I was, when I first started, and still am, getting over her loss. So much of the house and the yard are still Cali-proofed. She was a real pest, digging up the compost and the tasty fertilizers, stealing food off the counter. But we grew some of her favorite vegetable treats like snow peas, and still do.
Likewise friend.
Aww, she liked snow peas? Mine love carrots and lettuce, go figure lol
Hugs and I look forward to our adventure here on Steemit 🎀
Always a carrot eater from her youth, but here she liked everything almost... green beans and ripe tomatoes, and potatoes, oh yes, and lettuce and cabbage and...she was a real vegetable eater. It may account for her relatively long life.
Adventures on steemit! Yes!
Haha your little vegetarian 🌱
This was an amazing read. You write incredibly well, loved it. What is getting your chickens the Raccoons and other Vermin? When I lived in Mass my Dad had Chickens and he would put them in a coop to sleep at night. We had a lot of problems with the garden and the Gophers. I have an 11 year old Chihuahua that used to be blue and now he is gray with white hairs. I cant even think about how I will feel when it is his time. In the past I have outlived 2 dogs and both times I was in rough shape. I think they are harder to say goodbye too than most humans as weird as it sounds to say that. He is the baby of our house. Pretty close to speaks like a human when he wants something. So much personality in that little guy.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful response..
Ah, the chickens. I have never seen one actually taken but they have all disappeared. We have a lot of aerial predators, foxes, and I don't know what else. I know my three babies this year were eaten by a fox because I saw it hanging around in the morning and had to chase it away.
Two were senselessly killed and left by stray hunting dogs, and, of course, if you read the first chick story which I will try to translate to a steemit post someday, you will know that the Buff moved to New York City to make power costumes for the rich and famous.
The chicks from last year never went in the coop except to eat so they found various places to sleep all over the place. We had a very aggressive rooster at the time and I had to keep them separate.
When he "disappeared" those chickens still wouldn't go in the coop. Lee is the last of that group and now she is stuck in the coop and a small run because a different dog came up here and attacked her. She lost a lot of feathers so I am not going to let her out until this fall.
Cali was my replacement when all the boys went off to live their own lives. The runt of the litter with an improper coat, lost her leg when she ran into the tire of a truck, she still made it to 14. In many ways it felt like losing one of my children. Yeah I cried a lot writing that part. It hurt so much I will never get another one.
How did you manage to try again after the first and then the second?
We always had problems with predators too, I dont know how my dad managed to do pretty well with keeping the chicken alive. Of course we where not on 23 acres so I imagine we had a lot less Vermin. It took me a few years in between the dogs to feel ok to get another one, but I always feel so much better when I have one of those little furry guys around. I just try to give them the best life I possibly can and try to look at all the great moments. Death is never an easy thing to deal with no matter what but we are destined to have to deal with it the best that we can unfortunately.
Very heartfelt response. I thank you.
Between the dog and the chickens this has been a year filled with death and it hurts so much.
If I was younger...
bchick that was really a great read, feel like I know you much better. I felt like we were kindred spirits and I understand why now. I too have that need for privacy and feel the need to run after 5 minutes of personal interaction. It was a great idea to break life into phases making it easy to see where you have been and the path forward. Steem on!🐓
Yes, kindred spirits...I agree with that...chicken lovers unite!
We will steem on!
Where o where are you bchick, haven't seen you in a couple of days🐓
Oh my!
Well I have been here and there and everywhere. This steemit world seems endless.
I had made of lot of designs when I hit a bored period and put them up on an online store to be sold and have now been delving into that world through Amazon Merch. I applied and have been looking at some of my old designs and seeing them anew...using a few in my replies to see if there is any interest.
Also no groundhogs have been trapped yet and I do not know why but have written to a few people about that...
Lee is somewhat unhappy as she is bound by her coop and short run so I spend a lot of time with her.
How are you?
Had to go out for some errands. Now I know why we don't go out much. Too much traffic on weekends. Lots of people making their way to Disney World. Hope everyone is well at your place. 🐓🐓
I just found this. It is either Lee or one of her sisters the day she was hatched and we brought her home.
My aunt lives near you then...St. Cloud. The traffic has picked up quite a bit since Disney started there she notices.
It is cold and rainy here the last few days. I never remember it being cold enough at this time of year to have to put on socks and a jacket. Unusual weather all year with temperature variations.
Next week my 7 year old grandson will be with us so I will be spending a lot of time with him.
You will be with me in spirit though.
Thanks so much for your reply and the cute chick photo, so cute! Tell Lee hello and to hang in there. I have a broody hen that I had to separate from the others, she just pines away wanting to be a mother, 3rd time so far. Poor thing! I was out this evening wandering with the girls looking for treasures. Maybe next year I will have chicks if time and my energy holds up. Haha! So nice that your grandson is coming to see you, let me know how your visit goes after things settle down.🐓
I really enjoyed your story. I love how you were able to donate so much food to the needy. Good for you! So sorry to hear about Cali. It never is easy to lose a beloved pet. KittyKate is adorable. How is Lee doing? Did you find the snake and groundhogs?
We do grow a lot of food up here and as more grows each year we have to do something with it. Please stop by and pick some things for yourself. Do a little weeding while you're at it!
KK is a great Kitty. She must be 5 now and still looks just like that first day we picked her up from the rescue shelter. We had been having rodent problems, (mouse droppings in the kitchen drawers and so on in the house) but when the electricians found mice living in the meter box and the car repair people found a nest in the car motor and some eaten brake wires we had to do something.
She comes in the house now to eat and during the winter this year she spent a lot of time in the house. When Cali was dying she always went right to her when she came in and cuddled. She even sat on my shoulder for a few minutes after Cali was gone as if to console me. This is a very skittish cat who darts around is not a lap cat.
No groundhogs seen again or caught yet.
And no sign of the snake!
KK has earned her keep and had fun doing it at the same time. Aw...cuddling with Cali. Animals do sense when it is time. If you would like to, go read my story about my cat Pachino. He did the same thing when my other cat JB passed away. And Pachino knows when I am in pain and tries to console me. Happy to hear that the snake and groundhogs have not come back. I bet Lee is happy about that too. :)
Yes, I have read it. Good story. Didn't I upvote it? Maybe I read it at a time when my POWER was down to zero.
Oh Lee. When I went out just now to close up the coop for the night I couldn't find her anywhere...My heart just sank but I went into her run and called her. She was scrunched down under the ramp that goes up to the coop where she lays her eggs but way under...Hiding.
She does not like the coop.
I'm so happy to have found you and now following for more stories. This is the reason I Love steemit! Interactions with great people all over the world. I have high hopes of 1 day not needing banks or even Government. That good sound ideas will prevail as we all merge into 1 tribe called humanity.
Thanks for this lovely & Honest post :-)
Thanks so much! You are very encouraging.
Of course I agree with your view not needing banks or even Government
I hope you can write about the ways that you are able to Make It So in your life.
It's just a Panama thing, Police only do what they think is important as well as other government groups. To have bad laws pushed on people, you need enforcers, which are hard to find in Panama. Life comes before money here, but as incomes and cost of living increase so will the ability of the man to force people to do things they would rather not, Just to keep receiving their check.
I can no longer live inmy home country because of the above, and thats sad :-(
Be a citizen of the steemit world and write a story about this in more detail, please.
I have 15 #panama-blog 's done and many more to follow, but writing takes a lot out of me. Until a couple months ago here, I had never even written so much as a post card.
I can tell great stories all day, but writing them takes all day to do 1. LOL
I've also been trying to take a news and political break, as they both frustrate me.
I want to stick to my homesteading and interacting with the people doing the same here, Plus write about my Panama experiences and prospectives because it was so much fun creating them :-)
Cheers
Sounds like you have already started without me. Yikes, I have some catching up to do and this week is pretty much shot as one of my grandsons is here and uses a lot of my real time. 7 year old energy and mind!
Next week, and if I forget, Heaven forbid, please remind me. Seriously, I need reminding and this is something I would like to explore at my leisure.
Hope you are well. I enjoyed reading this.
Well
And there is so much more left to be revealed!
So sorry for your loss, losing one of our furbabies is heartbreaking, your gorgeous Cali knew it was time and she will always be with you. You need a new Cali someone you can give all that love too :(
Thank you so much. Still makes me cry. She was my only doggie. Irreplaceable.
They are irreplaceable, I have 2 at the minute, lost my best friend 7 years ago my German Shepherd, miss him ever day but these 2 help me and I love them for it :)
That's a lovely story, but entwined with the sadness of losing your four legged friend. I'm also a senior, and have lost 8 cats and 2 dogs over the years. Tessie our gray tabby was 19 when we had to say good-bye 5 weeks ago. I still miss her terribly, and so does my other gray tabby cat who is 18! I hope to keep in touch!
Yes, my Cali. I could not imagine living without her, my only doggie. Steemit has now been filling my life with new interests but I still miss her. 14 years was a long time to adjust to her presence and Cali-proof the house and garden; she was such a pest. Even today picking snow peas I think of her because they were one of her favorite treats.
I must say I was impressed by your article the other day about using images. The next article I read was filled with unattributed images, certainly just taken off the web, and I wanted to point out your article to him. I do hope you continue to find ways to teach users about this topic.
Thank you so much! I appreciate that. Another photographer has just written a post about copyright infringement and I Resteemed it.
It is so hard loosing a pet. We lost our doggie, Carlos, 5 years ago now and I still miss him. We did not get another dog, because I want to make longer trips back to Scotland to visit my family as long as I can. My Dad is 95!
Our other cat Bijou is 18, so when he goes, we won't be getting another pet. I have never been without a cat my entire life, so I'm not sure how will adjust. I had my two dogs for a total of 31 years.
My son is living with us just now, and he has two cats, so if he is still with us, we'll have cats around for a while. I had one cat who lived till she was 21, so Bijou may be around for a while yet. You would never think he was 18!
House cats? How do you take care of your pets that they have had such long lives?
Is it some secret that you would be willing to share?
They have just been pampered! LOL! They all started out as strays, so could have been older - Bijou may be actually 19 or 20. We just guessed he was about a year old when we got him.
They have all been indoor/outdoor cats, because they were so used to being outdoors. I only ever let them out for short periods in the mornings before they ate, though! Bijou knows the routine!
I had a Siamese too who lived till he was 17 or 18. He also had been a stray!
That's a really great introduction. Thanks for sharing more about yourself. I had my dog for 18 years and I remember those final years how much he struggled and I struggled to make him happy and comfortable. I'm sorry about your furry friend. I'm glad you found a community in steemit.
Yes Sir.