A ReIntroduction!

Wow, there is a lot to talk about!
So much has changed in my life! Not so much with my kids or my home, but with me!
It seems like I've been walking through my life with blinders on, accepting things as they come to me, never really working towards anything. Even looking back at college, I was there because it was fun! I figure, if it's fun, or tasty, or just something I want to do (and it doesn't harm or interfere with anyone else), then who cares if I do it or not? And what of tomorrow, I'll deal with it when it gets here.
I think the changes in my way of thinking started more than a year ago, when I discovered coconut oil.
You can't do research on coconut oil (which is absolutely amazing, by the way!) without learning a lot about healthy living.
We also started paying more attention to the future, as in retirement and/or preparing for catastrophe. I started with tins of freeze dried food, and back stocking things like toilet paper, and salt, buying cases of canned food, a couple of bug out bags, etc. I am still doing this, I think it's important to be prepared.
Then my neighbor was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. That really got the cogs turning.
I've always lived life with an attitude that I will live forever. I love that way of thinking! But it really isn't conducive to a long life. A tragic irony.  I still want to skid into the end of my life with bells on, but I can take some care to make sure it is as far in the future as I can make it! So my whole attitude has changed, towards what I put in and on my body, and those of my family. I started canning, and using essential oils, and coconut oil, of course. I also make my own laundry soap, dishwasher soap, chap stick, 'lotions', and I have a friend who makes bar soap (I found out I am sensitive to lye). I've been dehydrating for a long time, but have started to take it more seriously. We use a lot of fresh veggies, and home grown meat. I seldom buy meat from the store any more. I've even started seeds, going to have a garden again for the first time in ...well, a lot of years!

The pickling cucumbers have been coming up for a couple days now (the middle tray), the top tray is chives, tomatoes, collard greens, green onions, and jalapenos, they haven't come up yet. The other tray is zucchini and crook neck yellow squash, just peeking out this morning. 

I still have sheep, but not breeding Tunis anymore. I have my Tunis ram, and two ewes. 

 The dark one is a ram out of Gracie. We had to put her down this past fall because of a growth she had on her lower jaw. I was all set to take him and his brother to the butcher a couple months ago, when I realized he has his mother's wool. If I can find a home for the Tunis ram, I'll make this one my flock ram. There's Babs and her ewe lamb to the right (born Jan 27th). She had twins, one had tight tendons in his back hocks, so she decided he was tiger food. He is now a bottle baby (shown below). I have pretty much decided to keep the dark ram, Babs, her ewe lamb, and Sweety... I am actively looking for a home for the Tunis ram. He is full blooded Tunis, but can't be papered because of his three inch scurs.

This is Sweety, she is out of Jari's very first 4-H ewe that passed away year before last, when this one was a couple months old. Her lamb is hiding behind her shoulder. He was born day before yesterday, on March 4th. He has the tunis floppy ears :)

The bottle baby...

He's more Babs than his sister is, she's much darker, more 'Tunis' looking.

 This little guy, the newest one, has some kind of 'bubble' at the base of his ear. Not sure what it is yet, it's soft, pliable, like it has nothing but liquid in it. It doesn't hurt him, and he's healthy otherwise. He had it when he was born, right outta the chute :)

I have a whole list of things to tell everyone about, but I'll take it slow. 

Tomorrow: Home Improvement!