Remember my comments on stumbling blocks? Maybe you read what I wrote about my enemy and ally...
Either way, after another several hours stumbling (without the aid of Stumbler) around the Internet, I think I've got the majority of the bugs worked out of my TO DO list using that almost magical combination of Quicksilver, Stikkits and RSS.
That combination is not quite doing what I want it to do, but I'm told it can. It's getting close. I've dropped into the Stikkit forum and asked a question or two about getting the programs to do what I want.
We'll see what they say.
In the meantime, having put the majority of that problem to rest, we've started work on the farm again and I've gotten back to a semblance of productivity in the shop.
I'll keep you updated...
I know what it all means. After all, they're my words and I can interpret them however I want. I can even spell them differently if I phiel like it.
But that will do no one any good. Actions like that won't share new, helpful ideas with you, C. Reader, and building up a wall around my own thoughts is a sure way to stagnate.
It's not sustainable.
In order to communicate effectively, then, we must have some agreed upon definitions (and spellings, but that's another post some where some day).
Take a look at the definition of sustainable. You can read the whole thing. I did. But the definition I'm most interested in... the one I want to work with here, is number 5:
- to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.
As I was reading the definition, though, I was also struck by how appropriate number 9 could be. With your help...
- to uphold as valid, just, or correct, as a claim or the person making it: The judge sustained the lawyer's objection.
One of the things you'll find yourself giving up if you decide, as we have, to start the homestead from scratch, is time. There just ain't enough of it.
Still, for all the lack of time, there are some things I will not give up. I don't consider these niceties or luxuries. I consider them necessities.
Computer time. The computers in our household are vital for our business of teaching and selling fiber arts. With them around, though, we find time to blog a little (or a lot), surf a little, research a little and they can become time wasters in a hurry. We jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) call them hypnogourds (a silly reference to the fun Xanth series of books by Piers Anthony).
Books! We have library cards at every town we go to and we do frequent them to the tune of once a week - each - while we're there. That's Castle Rock and Monument, CO (really really nice libraries!), Mountain View, AR and Hammond, LA at present. I've still got cards, but don't know if they're still valid, for Craig and Rocky Ford, CO, too. If you haven't been to a library lately, go as soon as you can. Gone are the dusty stack of mouldering books with the stern, white-haired librarian stamping books thunderously and telling you to "Shhhhh!" Instead, there's computer access and printing - often even Wi-Fi, and multimedia (DVDs and VHS and CD and cassette - music, videos and books on tape) as well as books. We have a rather huge library ourselves and when we get the house built, the plan is to have all of the walls covered in books. No simple, silly bookcase for us - walls, I tell you! That why I was shocked and appalled when I read yesterday that few people read books and those that do average less than 7 a year. I've probably read more than 20 this year and it's only August and I've been busy.
Then there are things we find easy to give up and I think that this might be what's sucking other people's time, too.
Television. I did a little (very little) research and found that the average person spends about 4 hours per day watching television. We haven't has television since, um, since... well, since Fox canceled Firefly. We still watch movies. Sort of. They're on in the background on the computer and I'll glance up when there's something exciting going on. We treat 'em more like books on tape, really... and we have a lot of those, too.
Video games. Last night, as I began this post, Jeanette was researching keywords to beef up our search results on eBay and sees "PSP." She asks me what it is and I say "I think it's a file type for the old Paint Shop Pro (which used to be really great shareware from Jasc) program." Nope. PSP stands for Play Station Portable. It's the most searched term on eBay. Makes me want to put the line "Spinning is more fun that a PSP," in our listing, but that would be dishonest, right?
I'll grant you that playing a video game or watching a reality show featuring people drinking pigs blood as a sport might be more fun than diggin' post holes, but I guarantee you that you'll get more done and (eventually) feel better for a little hard work.
Oh, but my father is surely laughing at me now!
Well, it's kinda new... sorta...
I wrote in the Laffing Horse Diary the other day that my blog was my website. Seems people were getting confused looking for us and finding my daily (or sometimes not-so-daily) ramblings.
People stayed confused. Bummer.
They wanted to find out about Laffing Horse Woodworks, or Foxbriar Farm, or Common Threads. I wanted to tell 'em about my neighbor.
Since we - Jeanette and I - cannot count ourselves as a majority of two (well, we could, but what good would that do us... or our readers), we decided to turn all of our websites back on and desegregate them.
Now you'll find the following:
- Laffing Horse Diary
- This is where I'll write about the woodshop and all the wonderful goodies I build and design. Crochet hooks, square crochet hooks, afghan crochet hooks, Tunisian crochet hooks, flexible crochet hooks, knitting needles, circular knitting needles, double-point knitting needles, square knitting needles of all types, drop spindles, Navajo spindles, TriLooms and more can be found right here.
- Foxbriar Farm
- Daily trials, tribulations, and celebrations of life in the Ozarks. Here there be critters! Llamas, Jacob Sheep, Lamancha Dairy Goats, Angora Goats, Dogs, Cats, Chickens, Bees and Nugget and 'Fria - the two old token ponies and hay disposal units - will wander side by side with half lunatic ravings about how to best build a house out of scrap lumber and baling twine.
- Sustainable Reality
- Where High Tech meets the Homestead. We're homesteaders, sure, but that doesn't mean we're not civilized. We've got DSL run right to the barn. We'll blather on about new green technologies, how to use your computer and Internet connection to support the farm, and the like right here. I might even tuck in a few personal musings.
- Where High Tech meets the Homestead. We're homesteaders, sure, but that doesn't mean we're not civilized. We've got DSL run right to the barn. We'll blather on about new green technologies, how to use your computer and Internet connection to support the farm, and the like right here. I might even tuck in a few personal musings.
- Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns
- Jeanette's personal musings. I'm sure she has a more defined idea of what will go here, but she's not told me quite what it is yet.
- Sis
- 'Lena spends a lot of time on the farm. She has a very good eye for photos and a gentle, healing hand with the animals. She can tell you about it - or show it to you - in her own way.
- Road Dogs
- Jeanette decided that our dogs should have a voice. You'll hear from Aniken the white German Shepherd, Quigley UpOver the Aussie in America, and Scraps the Chihuahua crossed with a bat crossed with a potbellied pig crossed with a pug.
- There's another, but Jeanette says I can't tell you about it yet... don't worry, though, as soon as it's ready you'll hear about it in a BIG way. Gosh, I hope it's ready soon!