Time to grow!

Happy Earth Day! It has been a month since my last post and I have decided to get back on the horse. It has been too long and today is the day to set aside some time to write. This past month has been a time of adjusting to a new way of life, a time of appreciation for the blessings that we have and a time to take a step back and re-evaluate what is truly important in life. Where are you headed? (Probably not too far from the house, right?! ;)) There have been many times in my life where the path that I thought I would be on has abruptly changed and from there you have to learn to adjust and lean in closer to God. Because of COVID-19, we are all in one of those moments together. I can look back at other times in my life where unexpected change has occurred and realize the blessings that came with those changes. Of course, in the midst of the change it is sometimes difficult to see but hindsight provides the right lens to focus on the importance and the positive impact those changes made. We are all better for the things that we have been through and the experience that we have gained. Those experiences mold us into the people that we are and who we will become. It is up to us to let our experiences make a positive impact on not only our own development but helping others as they navigate through the things that you have already been through. I know, this is getting a little deep considering that this is supposed to be a blog about a family from the city that moved to the country and is experiencing new “country” things. From experience, I know how these times of change and unexpected situations can be an easy way to let your guard down and let negativity in so I want to do my part to let you all know that you have a purpose, you are loved and the best is yet to come. We have been using this time to grow closer as a family. I have since finished the chicken coop and as a family, we transported all 14 of the chickens out to the coop. With the family present, I installed roughly 20,000 honey bees into their new hive and after a week and a half, things are going great. We have all spent time in our new garden planting and getting ready for more. We all spent a day deep cleaning the house. I have been able to spend more time with our boys during the day and while it has been a challenge to get through school lessons and complete daily chores (can I get an amen?!), we have been together through it all. Baseball and basketball practices have been in the yard and in the driveway, as a family. Dinners (more than usual) have been together as a family, we have even gotten into a couple of bible studies. If this pandemic doesn’t occur, these things don’t happen and we continue to be pulled in separate ways and the usual craziness of life ensues. I’m not bashing the crazy way of life that we had pre-pandemic, I am simply appreciating the new opportunity to be together and it has been awesome. We absolutely miss our friends and activities. Life happens and we learn and grow. For my family, we choose to trust in God and understand that he will provide in his time. Be patient, be kind to others and grow from this experience.

Hey, Chick! Focus on the Positives.

Wow! What a difference a few weeks makes…a few days make…a few hours make. I ended my last blog entry by saying, “a lot of firsts for us this year and we look forward to enjoying them all”. Could you have imagined this “first” that we are all experiencing together as we forge through the unknown with the COVID-19 pandemic!?! So many changes for us so quickly. I don’t think that my head has stopped spinning. Once we have our share of toilet paper stocked in the pantry and we have mastered the art of social distancing, we can pause and choose to look at this in a variety of ways. I am encouraging you to look at the positives. I have seen a lot of negativity around cancellations of sports, school, travel, work, etc. but what I have also seen is a social news feed with the occasional picture of families coming together, playing board games, spending time together and enjoying each other’s company. I have also seen promotions for free streaming music performances, Broadway performances, workout classes, worship services. Last Sunday, my news feed was filled with various church services that had gone live. It was awesome! I am seeing people supporting their local businesses by choosing carry-out options and buying gift cards. If you can, I would encourage you to do the same. I am seeing the long overdue appreciation of our “essential workers”, grocery store workers, gas station workers, skilled trade workers, police, fire, doctors, nurses, mail delivery, financial institutions, home medical suppliers and so on. We are social beings, no doubt, and we will eventually get back to a new normal but let’s take advantage of this time to slow down a little. Understand that God is in control and let’s choose joy. The streaming church service that I took in last Sunday reminded me that choosing joy doesn’t change the problem that we face; it changes the way we face our problem. Our kids are watching us and learning about how we react to stress and uncertainty. Let’s make sure we teach them to be resilient and not to panic. I know, like me, you are seeing nothing but information on this pandemic and I felt a need to write about this on my blog and hopefully encourage you a little. For a Simple Ridge update; we have let the cats out of the barn and at least two have hung around and are helping with mice and unfortunately a couple of birds as well. From starting with 15 chickens, we lost one right away and are down to 14. Those 14 seem to be very healthy and I need to get my butt in gear and build a coop before they are too big for the container that we have them in currently. I have already upgraded their accommodations from a large plastic storage container to a large box that used to hold bird feed at Menards. Ha, funny story, Liz and I knew that the chicks had outgrown the container so we went in search of something bigger (you mean I have to spend more money on these birds?!)…As we were walking the aisles of Menards, I see this huge, empty box and I thought, this will work perfectly and I doubt it's very expensive ;) Excellent! After reinforcing it a little and putting some pieces of an old rug at the bottom with pine shavings, the chicks were good to go. Like this pandemic and like everything else, we must be creative and learn as we go. Let’s not forget to choose joy, be thoughtful of others and look at the positives in the process.

Who's Ready For Spring?!

This is the time of year that short glimpses of spring start to appear but then give way to a harsh reminder that it is still early March in Iowa. A time of transition, a time of anxiousness and a time when you have just about had enough of another Iowa winter. This year, I am more excited than ever to see the weather change and begin a new chapter at Simple Ridge. Big plans for our first full year here. With that comes a lot of preparation work. This is the kind of work that I don’t mind doing. When the work you are doing is getting you closer to the dream, if you don’t lose sight of that, it doesn’t feel much like work. Plus, I have three boys to help and to learn right alongside me and their mother. This year, we will be preparing an ideal apiary location and installing bees, building a chicken coop, a chicken run, preparing a garden, planting wildflowers and other plants and making sure the location is just right for all of these things as we look toward the future. I am sure that there will be more things that get thrown on the list but we will make that choice together. All of this as we navigate baseball practices, tournaments, work travel and maybe even basketball tournaments and practices as well. We choose to be busy and we can choose to prioritize what we are going to be busy with. Our family has always been full throttle and on the go but this opportunity that God has given us allows us the chance to be busy and to slow down at the same time and we are grateful for that. As long as we keep our eyes on what is important and prioritize those things in our life, we will come out the other end with feelings of accomplishment, appreciation and plenty of great memories. Since my last entry, we have adopted 5 barn cats and we are on the verge of “opening the door”. I have a good feeling that this group will stick around. They are much more friendly than the last two cats that we had and don’t seem to mind their surroundings. Next week, 15 baby chicks will arrive, and we will all learn together how to take care of them. A lot of firsts for us this year and we look forward to enjoying them all…

Going all in...with barn cats

We are the type of family that tends to go all in when we want to try something new. This can be exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. I mentioned in my previous blog entry that we had decided to get barn cats. My wife (Liz) came up with this idea shortly after we moved into the new place. Not a fan of small critters like mice and rats, she saw this as a great solution to keep them at bay in the area where we would eventually like to have chickens. Also, my kids had expressed that they might like to have a cat but I am allergic so we definitely would never have indoor cats. Perfect solution, right? It seemed like the local humane society had a window into Liz’s mind because shortly after this idea sprang up, they advertised a need for someone to adopt two barn cats. They have a great program where they will spay/neuter and vaccinate these feral cats and give them a chance at life with those that need barn cats. This time, it was us! More excitement in our house as we were about to venture into unknown territory. We prepared by researching how to get your barn cats to become familiar with their surroundings and once it was time to let them roam, how to get them to stick around. We also purchased some cat food, kitty litter, food/water bowls and used an old storage bin we had for a makeshift litter box. Liz brought them home and we released them into an outbuilding that has a garage door that closes onto loose gravel. Things seemed to be going great. The two cats were using the litter box, eating their food and were getting along. They were both very shy and would not let us come near them. After only a couple of days, we noticed that a door to the outbuilding had been left open. This was from our 4 year old son being curious and checked on the cats but forgot to close the door behind him. It happens…One cat gone, one cat stayed. We hoped the other would return but after a week, we knew that would not be the case. Of course, our kids named the cats. It was Rocky who busted out, and Midnight decided to stay. We thought retaining one out of two wasn’t bad and after a couple of weeks, it felt like Midnight was going to stay. We were getting close to the point where our research had told us it was time to let the cat roam and see if it would come back. One morning, I noticed under the garage door, there was a hole that had been dug out just large enough for a cat to squeeze under. Uh oh! Did we lose another one?! I went and inspected, sure enough, Midnight had run out of food and decided to take matters into his own hands digging a small pathway in the gravel, under the garage door. He was gone but not for long. Two days later, he returned! The kids were so happy. We decided to not fill the hole. Midnight could come and go as he pleased. I continued to fill the water and the food and changed the litter. After a while, there was no longer any reason to clean the litter box…this had me a little curious. The food was being eaten…Had Midnight decided to do his business outside now that he had free range? We couldn’t catch a glimpse of him for a couple of weeks and I noticed that the hole under the garage door had gotten a little bigger. I was becoming more suspicious until one night on our return home I received my answer. Close to the pathway that Midnight had created was a possum! Yes, I had been feeding a possum for weeks. It is still unknown where Midnight ran off to. We can only hope that he has found a better life and maybe someday will return. I know that possums are great for eating ticks and are considered nature’s pest control but he can do that outside of my building and eat ticks instead of cat food. The hole is now filled, the food and water dishes put away. Things don’t always turn out as you expect them to but you have to at least give it a try. We will try again when the weather is a bit warmer and we will continue to go all in. It might not turn out as we think but the experience will help us along the way.

Taking that first step...Happy Birthday to me!

Welcome to my first attempt at writing a personal blog. Today (Feb. 1st) happens to be my 40^th birthday so I couldn’t think of a better time than now to get started on one. You could say that I have never shied away from an adventure. When I was younger, my adventures and impulsive decision making probably was more based on being curious and seeing my world as not having much to lose. At age 18 and two weeks out of high school, I used graduation funds to go on a solo trip to Europe for a week. This was experience I could not have gained anywhere else and I will never forget it. Later in college, after a failed attempt of becoming a meteorologist, I packed up all that I owned in my ’94 Chevy Cavalier and moved to California. Well that didn’t work out well and I soon moved back to the Midwest with a new plan and having learned a ton from taking the chance. There was a lot of life in between but it wasn’t until I started having a family and found Christ that my decisions really started to become something that I prayed about and left in the hands of God for direction. This didn’t necessarily make any of my decisions less “crazy” or over the top but as far as I am concerned, were guided by faith and since using God as my compass, these decisions have turned out so much better. Now this blog will find it's theme and purpose eventually, for now, it is an outlet for someone who loves to write, to finally get back in the groove and put thoughts on paper. Writers know that when you get going, you sometimes can’t stop and the theme comes out in the end. Another reason that I wanted to start to blog was a recent decision in my life has really inserted a ton of excitement into my family’s life. In August, 2019, we purchased a new house that sits on a nice piece of land just outside of the small town that my wife grew up in. We had moved back to this small town in 2014 (more to come on this at a later time) but lived in town and actually could see the house that we now live in from our previous back yard. In fact, when we watched the sun go down, we were watching it set on our future home. The one God had placed in our path, the one that with prayerful consideration and a ton of faith, we made the decision to leap into what God was pushing us toward. I am starting this blog because at 40 years old, I feel like we are at the beginning of an amazing adventure, something we were meant to do and I wanted to share our journey and real life experience with you. From “city boy” to living in the country, I can’t wait for all of the adventures that my family is going to have. We have already experienced some new things such as getting to plow a long lane, putting up snow fence, planting trees, getting barn cats (and losing barn cats) and several other things. Planning for the layout of our land and how we can utilize it to honor the gift that God has given us has been very interesting and still a work in progress but implementing this plan is what I intend to focus on with this blog. I’m sure it will provide some humor, some insight and hopefully some inspiration. At age 40, I am taking a class to become a beekeeper. This is something that I have wanted to do since I was a little kid growing up in California. My bees are set to arrive in April so “bee” looking forward to hearing more on this and other "adventures". Never stop learning and never stop praying. Thanks for coming along with us on our journey…