After time

No pictures this time. It's been a while. Work is picking up tremendous speed due to a mass move we will conduct in January overseas. But it's only for 7 months and then we will be back. With any luck, all of our well trained employees will return but the competing organization will have less.

The state of my children's education has been on my mind of late. I recollect something I learned some time ago about the foundations of our American education system being based on the Prussian model. What that means, or, rather, what that entails is a system constructed to create automatons. The Prussian model was a cog in the Austrian-Germanic war identity. It was very type cast and the ruling elite wanted a mass of automatic, taught by memorization but robbed of conceptual thought, pawns with which to send into battle for something so silly as nationalism. What that required was the training up of thinking things to be simply acting things, creatures happy to pull levers and push buttons, willing to without question obey as a master might direct.

I believe that we have dark remnants of that here in America. We have developed into a rather knee jerk society, angry at race because bleating philistines on the TV tell us to be; happy to spend money we don't have because vacuous women and men in false bodies tell us it is good. We even vote for highly qualified circuit lecturers to high office because some media machine recommends it.

So I did the best thing I could for my boys: I bought an abacus. We are surrounded by parents with children very good at vomiting a whole print ribbon worth of neat-a-ry. But to these poor babies they are sounds. Just sounds. I am reading the ancient Romans and Greeks. I found a library collection from the 1950's that has assembled every important work of literature since a thousand years before Christ. And I mean it. It is a 20 volume set of about 20,000 pages. It seems those old smart Greek and Roman philosophers and great teachers that prophets and sages today quote and cite felt it right to teach a boy physical courage and valor until he was about 7 or 8. Then they started in with the genius, and not memorization, but conceptualization. For my boys, they know and understand physical courage and I can calmly state that they fear no man or animal except those they should. And papa destroys those with heavy hand and unyielding strength. We have thus taken our journey into the land of mathematics, the conceptual kind. Silas knows his numbers well up to 20 without a beat. But what do they mean? As it turns out, in his 4 year old mind, not much. Or they did not mean much. But now, with the advent of our rod and bead device that slides, he has learned that 10 beads is equal to 10 fingers is equal to 10 speakers on the wall or 10 rail road tracks on the ground. In other words, he knows now that the concept "10"is a conceptualization of individual units brought together 10 times over! I cannot tell you how exciting that is to me. This is the foundation of arithmetic, the foundation of mathematics, which is to be the foundation of his rational, logical mind and his conquering of emotion! And that is to rule the world where ever you are, where animals that grew out of men bleat and demand to be fed by someone or something because they abdicated the ability to do it themselves.

It is good to be 4 and to understand the what time forgot.

Of babies and rabbits and credit cards

Janet had the baby. It is a He-American-Man child named Manus Strider Freeman. He scored in at 8 lbs, 2 oz and 19.5 inches.

Good wife elected to go for natural birth again utilizing only her rawhide toughness and my Russian breathing techniques. Hard labor started at 8pm and baby came at 1:06am. It was textbook.

Janet's midwife, Olivia brought 3 assistants who were very helpful and knowledgeable. I enjoy seeing these earth-mama's who know their trade so well.

There were certain issues with the logistics of the birth, however. I should have set the tub up on previous days on dry runs. I did not. When the day came, it went up easily enough, but the hose we were supposed to use did not reach, so I got an outside house and hosed it off with a bleach solution. No wild North Carolina parasites gon'get my baby! But when I attached the hose to the adapter on the sink, it blew off and stripped the threads. Not discouraged, I looked back to my parents days as magnetohydrodynamics consultants and remembered that there is a faucet on the bottom of every liberty loving water heater in the land. Those without said faucets are democrats and hate humans. SO I attached my hose to my patriotic water heater faucet and out came hot water---and silt. Lots, and lots of mineral waste. She wanted natural; she got natural.

But imagine the shock when a 70 gallon waterheater cannot successfully heat 300 gallons at the rapid rate! I was not shocked. Shock is for amateurs. I had already 4 large pots of water boiling away on the stove. It took about 20 5 gallon boiling pots to get the water at the baby friendly 100 F. But it happened.

Water broke at around 12 pm and as previously mentioned, baby came around 1am. It was a success. Little to no tearing. No baby issues. And momma slept in her own bed that night.

Of course Silas and Atlas are treating him well. We never taught them to be selfish. Silas calls him "The baby brother" and "The Silas brother" and Atlas just calls him "baby". They always want to hold him and be silly to get him to laugh. Little do they know that before his Manus eyes they are hazy white blobs moving about at this point. Give him a month and he will think he came to the greatest show on earth.



As far as babies go, he sleeps well and eats well. But again, we don't expect or teach our babies anything other than being good boys. Bad children are for bad parents, we've decided.

In other news, we were able to pay off $3200 in credit cards just like that in a fell swoop. The benefits of being a paid mercenary of the US Gub'ment are endless. I decided to chop these cards up so as not to be tempted to use them again. Now they will sit; the limit being mathematically opposite of the current amount. The credit gods will continue to smile and rain down blessings in the form of a higher credit score. At this rate, if I start snorting cocaine, in ten years I could be president! We'd have closed door military tribunals and executions for terrorists, enforce immigration control, and strip non-Americans of constitutional rights when here illegally!

And now the circle of life: One of our rabbits got out the other day and was heard in our neighbors yard giving protesting shouts. Something had snatched her! A few days later, I happened to catch her after she came back and when I picked her up, I felt something was amiss with her underside. I rolled her over and she had a gaping hole in her belly! It was just a tear of the skin, nothing in the organs, but still! A gaping hole! I assembled a committee of me and the dog and we deliberated that a vet would charge us way to much to fix this rabbit, good breeder that she was and all, and she did not rate that kind of medical care. So, I took her by the back legs and reviewed how the old British gent had explained you yank the ears back and break the neck. I decided I would probably only succeed in giving her a terrific pull of the neck muscles, so I did it the American way: I whapped her against a nearby oak tree (three times). She was liberated!

I then commenced to in the skinning and gutting of her, cutting away and feeding to the dog those parts associated with her belly hole. It was his fee for his consultation. I then quartered her up and put her in a vat of non-alcoholic beer, Lawry's seasoned salt, vinegar, salt, and red pepper. I let her sit like this for a night.

I stripped the skin of fat and flesh, packed it in salt and stapled the hide to a board to let dry. Dry she did! I then put the it in a solution of rubbing alcohol and water for 3 days. Then into the washing machine! It came out alright, but it is just good for a wall hanging. I needed to add acid and alum to the water in order to make it leather. Next time I will.

But the meat! I fried it then broiled it with potatoes, onions, and carrots. I cooked it too quickly. With older rabbits you have to cook them slowly. Otherwise they are boot tough. She was.

The babies didn't mind though.

This bathroom was an atrocity. It mocked me every time I walked by. It had not been updated since the 80's. Occasionally, time stamping something in the 80's is good, like music and women's fashion for instance. But not linolium. There is a reason why "linolium" sounds so close to "Lenin". It's because it is evil and means you harm!

So, me, $700 dollars, and my new fantasticy leather tool belt that makes me look like a John Wayne gun slinger, and two weeks of 4 hour a day work (save saturdays, where it was like 9 hours), I transformed that stinking suppository of old people buns and broken dreams into a tumbled marble Romanesque temple to the nature of man and his greatness!

I tore up that foul leninoleum! I ripped out the nasty sink where so many elderly germs were placed, installed cement board, patched wall holes, hung a lenin (there he is again!) weave wall paper, mortored, tiled, grouted, cleaned, installed the sink with brass faucet ( bathrub brass replacement will follow), reinstalled the toilet after raising up the drain pipe an inch for the sake of the tile and then I closed the door. I felt victorious because it will obviously increase our home value. Plus I now feel more confident in my ability to refurbish our kitchen!
Mind you, if you are basically handy and are gifted about the hands like I can be (just ask the wife....grrrrr), a professional looking bathroom (or tiling job) takes some time, patience, and a solution oriented mind.

This was my first tiling job ever and I feel as though I owned it. I am advancing a strategy for the master bedroom to make a steamroom with a sunken bathtub. I can do that!

Obviously it has been some time since I have posted. Know that is it not because I am indolent, feeling guilty for not working on the property and thus not posting to hide myself like a shadowy fiend! No, I have not posted because I have been working too hard. With Janet preparing to spray babies all over our house in a matter of weeks which will cause her to be out of the fight for a few days at least, I decided I had better prep a fence around the yard and complete the guest bathroom.

The picture above is of a large and vile reed plant that is doomed. It is deep rooted and so I burned it. The yard was collateral damage. The plant did not go away all the way, so I proceeded to build my fence anyway and I will kill that infernal hellbush some other day. I think the end result fence is a good look. It is Atlas proof... for now.

More later.

Progress with no money

Physically we have done little on our property because we have been so busy otherwise. We did prime the rest of the chicken coop as shown below, and the babies like to get put up on top so they can stomp around.

This rabbit below that Silas is holding keeps getting beaten up by the other male. He is the one I made retarded. Now the other rabbit picks on him. He got bit up pretty bad and the other male won't let him eat, so we put him in isolation and he is getting better. When he is healed, we will put the aggressive male in isolation and let the retarded rabbit have his way with the females.

Because of my reasoning, I am thinking that reincarnation is true and these female rabbits are the re-embodied souls of Ted Kennedy and Osama Bin Laden. Their choices in life were unfortunate because nothing but punishment awaits them here.

We elected to build a hutch for the rabbits to raise babies in.It is 4x2x1 feet, made into two compartments with a wee baby bay.

We built it all together because Janet designed it but I had to built it. Hugely pregnant women have difficulty with carpentry.

The box is all together and primed (we are saving up for paint). Unfortunatley, round one failed. The momma rabbit got out of the fenced area and dug a hole thatthe dog found and compromised. We moved her and her babies inside and they died in two days. Fail.

7 months! 1 to go!

Silas flowers from our yard.

Last saturday which we spent the day long building things and cleaning the yard, the boys took some time to dance like wild men. These pictures were all taken to the tune of "Maneater" by Nelly Fertado. There was some serious--- possibly criminal--- girating in our house.

After that I dug about a a dozen two foot deep post holes. As it turns out, wet clay is not as fun to dig in as you would think. I have more to dig today. It shall be done.

In the end, all this work is enough to wear a boy out.

No pictures this time. Just a short note. Got the roof up on the chicken coop, walls up and fully primed. Another $50 and paint and we will be in business.

I added two songs to my play list that seem appropriate to what is going on in the country: The Soviet National Anthem and "Proud to be an American"by Greenwood.

I sigh as I come to realize that what can't be avoided, won't be.

A chicken coop for $150

So as you all know, my constant devotion here has been to get a chicken coop up. Behold, I present progress! I had a fellow who was due to cut me a load of wood for a steal of a price, but as it turns out, his resurces have run dry due to all this rain we have been having. He can't get
FRIDAY EVENING

into the woods, you see, so he can't get any wood for me. I ricky reconed his place and sure enough, he is out of wood. Not to be outdone by circumstances, I went by Lowes where they will have a junk wood pile from time to time. And by junk wood I mean wood not meat for professionals.

Well, fortunately for me, modern homesteaders can do just fine with junk wood, especially when It is half price or less. I got 8 sheets of plywood for $30. Plywood sheets (the ones I got) usually go for $15 each. Even with Algore math, that is savings.

I also discovered I am no Mason. Although impressed with it's architectured tilt to the right, my building as not square. Insomuch as plywood sheets tend to be rectangular, it presented a problem. However, with a little detailed measuring and surgical percision with my hand saw, I did indeed make a seemless roof, which you see below in the white. Keep in mind that that is just for priming sakes. Ultimately it will be a tin roof.

I have got to buy some more exterior primer and prime the rest of the thing. After a put corners on it and make sure it is sealed, I have got to paint it. I am gravitating towards something swedish, ie, red and white, but then again....

I suppose we could paint it totally white, but then I would have to grow a beard and start a cult. Maybe yellow and white. Anyway, I will figure it out.

NOW

To at least one of my readers chigrine, we are but a month away from chickens and immediate savings in egg purchases, not to mention chicken. Oh, happy day.

Now about the rabbits. Due to Silas and Atlas being 3.6 and 1.5 years old, they fooled with the baby rabbits and they died. The babies got buried in the straw and mother rabbit failed so save them so they froze and starved. I am sure this mother rabbit would vote for a welfare state. She was always out galivanting with her boyZ and let her babies die. However, she is a prolific breeder so I will keep her for that reason.

This big brown rabbit to the left is pregnant. I have secured a large wooden box that I can keep silas and atlas out of for her to give birth in. I hope she does.

Now for a confessional. I think I knocked one of the rabbits retarded. He got out and I cornered him near a fence but he was too quick. I got a big stick to extend my reach and when the rabbit bolted right, I certianly did extend my reach. It was a good polo shot. Right in the middle of the face and rabbit goes flopping all over the ground screaming. I noted in my log that given the right set up, you can exude that satisfying "crack" from a rabbits head that you always want to hear when you beat a creature over the head. I swear I did not mean to hit him like that.

These days he is not making good decisions. When we go to get him, he will run and hide under a leaf or go into a sideways turned bucket and you just pluck him out. The other male chases him all over. If I could tune into it, I am fairly certain he sits around and says " Huh huu huh huuhuu!" all day. We'll see if he gets some play from the females. He has till May.

I think I will name him POTUS.

433% growth!

Well, today was a prosperous day. As I walked out through our pasture area I noted a cardboard box that I intended to burn in our wood pile. It seemed like a pleasing exercise to kick said box for the sheer joy of it and so I walked near to kick and right as I did, I noticed that the box had an unusual amount of straw inside as well as enough rabbit fur to make me think Global Warming had exploded one of our rabbits. Fortunately, I also know that mythical creatures do not kill rabbits in boxes. Quickly adapting to the new situation, I peaked inside the box and observed 10 nude rat/dragon/demon creatures. Ten! Our New Zealand White gave birth last night in a box and that, my friends, is progress.


Excited about this and pondering the implications of another buck in our projects, I vied to go purchase the mate of the brown rabbit we got last week. I bought him and noted that he has funk-ear. Mites, you understand, gather in rabbit and weenie dog (PBUT) ears and cause a lot of trouble. Campho phenique is said to cure it. So, to the store to buy some Campho phenique (and salt blocks for their guts) and dumped a bunch in his ears and massaged them. He could not love it. I am sure having that stuff poured into an open wound and then having someone rubbing the wound feels like crashing a stolen plain into government offices. So this begat me to wondering whether our other rabbits were so stricken. Two of them were. Thus I nuked their ears and they will get better.


I decided to take the chance that the new buck might be feeling lucky in a new town with new ears and a new salt wheel, so I put him and the brown female in a coop together and I swear sexual assualt occurs in the animal kingdom. That poor girl didn't have a chance. I expect that at least 30 days from today, we will see how babby gets formed.

So count them: 10 new babies and 1 new buck.

But that's not all! I noted on craigslist this morning that some champ was advertising a doe and kid pygmy goat pair for free. Said he, "I got them to eat all my undergrowth and vines and thorns. Now they are done and I have no use for them." Me knowing that pygmy goats generally go for some $75 around here and 'free' is less than that, I made arrangements and went on to pick up the goats. The catching was easy enough and then I accessed my heritage and hog tied that mamma goat in an enviable fashion, tossed her on a tarp in the back of the minivan and about made it out when the guy let me know that the new world definition of "free" is "$50". Well, swindler that he is, I had to confess he got me. After driving 40 miles out there I was not about to turn back because this guy wanted to be a land pirate, especially when he was selling me goats at $25 each, which is still less than $75 and also less than "free"











In one day, our herd went from 3 rabbits to 14 rabbits and 2 goats. That means we are getting a bit more independent. I'll take 433% growth most days.















Further, I have found a spot where I can excavate and dam up. See, a wee little spring feeds a certain portion of my lot and the water table is extra ordinarily high around here. For less than $700 or so I can have built a pond for channel catfish, large mouth bass and animal water. Can you say, property value appreciation? I swear, this place of mine will fetch a fine price on the survivalist market.