I don't spend much time on the internet now days but when I do I Lurk through the Monkey. Unlike many forums and platforms the old core crew seems to just stay here and consistent. LOL I would have if life after becoming widowed had not taken so many wild and crazy twist and turns. No One believed I would ever sell my farm and leave it. Of course no one believed I would shut everything down and retire at 52 either. So the last woman turned out to have lied about some major things and was properly packaged up and shipped back to North Carolina LOL. That was pretty early last spring. The new one was a friend and her and her daughter started going on Kayak and Camping trips with me and it wasn't long before we started doing everything together. Not really any getting to know each other as we already knew pretty much everything about each other from the friendship. She was widowed young about six months before I was and was married only once...... well twice now. That and her and her daughter moving in here happened 9 days ago. Her little homestead is only 11 miles North of me, so we took a box trailer and parked it there and have been taking our time sorting, packing and loading the trailer up. And bringing essential stuffs back as they think of something they really need here that is there. My now our little Cabin is bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside with two big bedrooms, a big Kitchen and open floor plan with the Kitchen, Living and dining. So there is ample space for all of us including my 4 dogs and their 2 LOL. This year has been real heavy on the stealing bucket load after bucket load of rocks, sand and gravel out of my creek and using it for the landscaping and building the raised garden beds. Make no mistake this is HARD WORK LOL The big project though this year and still in progress has been building our patio using the bigger rocks to build the retaining wall, the 3" and 4" rocks to build the base and wall backing and the sand and small gravel for the tops 4 inches LOL the patio project was not really planned and started out with just a fire pit to sit by drinking some wine and relaxing. And it just keeps growing LOL we named it the Gravel Bar and Grill. I am sorting all of the bucket loads of by hand and rake and building as I go. I thought about welding some scrap steel into a screen to sort the rocks out by just dumping a bucket load on and sending the big rocks to one side, the 3 and 4 inch to the other side and the sand and small gravel to straight underneath. But decided that would be too easy and kill my 3-4 hour daily workout with the rocks. I got tired of my bridge washing out every big rain and turned it into a solid spillway for the creek. When those big fast rains happen A LOT of water comes off of the 4 little Mountains/Big hills that my valley sits between. In stealing the rock from the creek, I went deep enough that I hit a live spring and instead of a wet weather creek, we have a small flow year round flowing creek. Ok maybe a little better than slow flowing Really didn't expect to hit a spring 3 down that put out that volume of water. We do spend a lot of time camping and Kayaking on the four closest rivers and two lakes. We do our day and half day fishing trips on the Castor River that is only like 10 minutes from the Cabin and most of Camping and long trips on the St Francis River and Lake Wappapello, We love to toss a tent, the chairs, the little grill on and a cooler on the Kayak and hit a gravel bar on the st francis with a good swimming hole and casting spot and just spend the day fishing and swimming and grilling some burgers and dogs. The girls love the St Francis At our Favorite gravel bar it is rare to not have a eagle or 3 join us. Great view of Sam A Baker from that favorite gravel bar as well. We set up our base Camp at Sam A Baker Campground 1 and I always reserve the most private and isolated site with no sites on either side of us. Not uncommon for a couple of friends to tag along so we take a long the two Ascend 10Ts for them LOL I won't cry if those two get tore up we were pretty much spending Monday through Fridays camping and Kayaking, I just won't go on the weekends because the river gets constipated with people, tubes and kayaks and the campground turns into a Zoo worthy of the wildest Monkeys Week days there is almost no one in the campground or on the river. The Basic no Electric sites along the river are only $15 per night and I just take the little Predator Super Quiet Generator. The Kargo Kamper I built can take a standard 120, or RV 30 or 50 Amps has a fridge, heat and ac, a wall of counter, Cabinets, a dining table and a queen size bed It is kind of Scary that my Little Gizmo takes over the Recliner, the laptop and my phone when we are away. A family and filling the role of a father were not in my plans in any way shape or form since being widowed. And both Kristi and I swore we would never be more than friends. And well here we are Funny thing is we have disagreements now and then but have never had a argument or really ever rubbed each other the wrong way. In the grand scheme of things I guess our 7 year age gap doesn't really matter at this stage of life. 58 and her 51 and Darci 15. I was worried that Darci would have issues with me as it has just been her and her Mom since her dad died. She told me last night that she loves it here and for the first time since her dad passed away that she feels safe and secure and she is very happy that her Mom is happy and not alone anymore. Life is Good
T5R, I was just thinking of you the other day, and how hard it was gonna be to come track you down lol.
I was wondering about you, too, T5R. Started reading this post and thought to myself, "This man stays as busy retired as most people do working!" Probably a good thing you retired, then, huh?
You must just be a Chick magnet ,, Sounds like you may have finally found a keeper. I hope everything goes well for you all. You surely do deserve some peace in your life ,, you've sure been put thru the wringer the last few yrs . And it's good to hear from ya ,,, loved your pics ,,
