Bye Bye Luck Cabin

I have been preparing to leave the Luck cabin.... not just for the winter, not for a vacation, not for a weekend.... forever.

It was not an easy decision after everything i put into it, but i guess i am living up to the Gypsy nickname my parents have given me. A slow nomad, going from forest to forest... and then...

pass it on.

Each one.

Passing it to the next runner. The family who is taking over the Luck Cabin could not have been anymore perfect... they have a great respect for the forest, as a whole, and as each organism that comes together to make it function, that makes it what nature intended it to be. They will cherish this micro climate, with all its rare plants, and invisible animals (who only leave evidence of their lives rather then show themselves)...

............

I will leave my goodbye at that. So much could be said, it could be its own novel - but i have cried enough tears saying my goodbyes, and now I look into a open future again.

Searching for another place, to call home.

A search that has already lead me to many secret & strange tucked away places -

and each one holds bit by bit a puzzle piece to the whole i want to take root.... a bigger picture, my own personal perfection. And i have made the lists ..... the lists, always come to fruition, for better or sometimes for worse. And that is why.... before making wishes, be sure you want to get what you want. I made two this week, with two pennies - and just went ahead and repeated the first wish twice. Insure my intention.

For now (while moving), i am going to roll with the adventure part. Maybe not even roll with it, but roll IN it, Eat it, breathe it, love it, let it scare me, let it soothe me, let it open itself up to me. Let it make me laugh, let the giggles come, the horror, the disappointment leading to more unknown. I will take it all, exhausted or smiling. Cause i can't stop watching.

Xoxoxox

Luck Cabin For Sale

The Luck Cabin..... built in 1970 by some mountain man.... hardly touched until 2010/11 by me.... i did a total transformation to this cabin. I wanted to stay here for the rest of my life. But it ain't gonna happen. And now it's official, a small piece of my sweat and soul is for purchase.
$120,000.... and all this can be yours (see list under the pictures!) :))))
Above - outside shower, below is the back deck...
the mini barn with built in chicken coop me and my uncle designed and built.
and here is the front door.... go inside....
the living room and kitchen are open to each other... the loft is up top...

bathroom has composting toilet (dont worry i will clean it out before i leave), clawfoot tub and little birdbath sink...
and the one bedroom.....
ALL ABOUT IT :::::::::::::::

--- composting toilet
--- grey water system for sink and tub
--- gravity fed spring water to house, with outside non electric pump
--- pond
--- mini barn with storage space and chicken coop
--- fenced in approx. 1 acre
---property approx 8 acres
--- flat, sloping, steep, wooded, small cleared area for garden
---claw foot tub, stain glass window, outside shower
--- locally milled hickory wood floor
--- new metal roof with 40 year warranty
--- PEX (pecs) plumbing
--- gravel road
--- large deck and covered porch on three sides
---creek, springs
--- satellite internet, with French Broad's Broadband being installed
--- electric stove, electric fridge
--- new storm windows
--- woodstove

Ghost Of Myself

I went on a ghost story binge yesterday.... which made me want to make my own fake ghost picture in the Luck Cabin.
So here is me, dead and haunting you.
:)
In other news.... the test results came back from the allopathic doctor and I am free of parasites they say. Like 100%.
Only thing that sucks about that, is i only got about 30-40% better after having took the Para-shield pills. So what next?
Even though i paid the doctor in full and many many hundreds of my dollars, they refused to call me back and tell me what route i should take. Also they told me to go to my family doctor, which i dont have, DUH, cause most doctors suck. Then they promised to refer me after the holiday ends. But only to a GI clinic which i have been before that treated me very badly.
GO US health care!

So...... for now I will concentrate on balancing the after-battle damage. (parasites and all methods to kill the little shitheads can really put your digestive track out of whack and under serious distress. )
Fingers crossed.... for probiotics, usnea tea, salt baths, happy thoughts, etc.....
...........
a wise man asked me recently "is this a hill you are willing to die on"....
no,
fuck no. Not ready to be the ghost of myself just yet.

XOxoXoxo

More Baby Duck Action!

Baby ducks are adorable!!!! (I am still really sick today, so my baby ducks have been a nice break and made me smile!)

Here is a video of when they arrived yesterday, and the neat-o fenced area my uncle built for them to stay safe in!




XoXXooX

Where Have I Been?

Only the trees, birds and bees know for sure. :))

Remember my To Do At The Luck Cabin (even though i can not live here year round for the rest of my life) but I am going to keep doing stuff anyway LIST?
Me either. I'll have to go look at it.
But, I think i have been getting some of it done....
Let's just say I have been 'taking out the trash' in my life - in with new out with old.

***
1. First big change... I put up a gate on my road to keep strangers in vehicles and 4 wheelers and gators OUT, and keep JuJu the donkey IN. So far it's working it's function really well. I already planned on doing this, but the point was driven harder to get this gate up for JuJu patrol when a bobcat came and killed 6 chickens and my female duck. (I found the bobcat tracks and no other tracks around.)
One big drawback, JuJu started trying to eat my house. Ya'll may argue this, but it is just to get my attention and be an asshole... she has hay and green things and a salt lick to eat. She learned quickly that eating the house made me come out the house and be mad.... she don't care about the mad part. :0
BTW -Did I mention this gate also helps keep out random rednecks? Yay!

2. Then I started finally doing all the laundry that had been building up, got my Lehman's Hand Washer drain unclogged... hang drying clothes and sheets on the line, when the sun finallllllly shined day after day.

3. Got all the literal trash loaded up in my truck and my uncle's truck... which lead me into....

4. a house cleaning SPREE! You know the neglect is bad when a 425 sq ft house takes over 3 days to get cleaned up. To be fair i was cleaning outside too, plus cleaning out my soul and disposing of outdated relationship knick knacks, etc....

5. NEW GUTTERS (hooked up to rain barrels)! woo! the old gutters were ripped off the house during the winter by the extreme amount of snow and ice on the roof (bent the thing right in half like a twist tie). Now the new gutters are hooked into the rain barrels!

6. Did i mention taking the trash out of my love life & heart? I did a dance about it for myself and my friend Heather (the one who had brain surgery recently & is going through a break up). Watch it HERE if you dare, cause it's got pazzaz and passion.

7. Outside shower is FIXED! yay! There was a tiny amount of PVC piping left on there and it had of course cracked during the winter. I had stop valves put on the shower for winter time and all the piping for the cabin & outside shower are now PEX only. None of the pex ever broke.

8. BUGS.... of course. I have been looking at all the new bugs coming out. Moths and caterpillars and flying crawling, wiggling things.
9. and i am working on getting vitamin D.... a nice tan with freckles, sunshine, every moment i can, every moment till my skin says it's reached it's daily dose. After this winter.... the daily dose is alot higher then normal.
10. And lastly.... i FINALLY got my passport in the mail! Now i can run away at anytime. to. well. Anywhere in the world. Being the smarty pants i am, i am saving money for when the moment comes... because one thing is for sure, I won't spend another full winter up here at this cabin by myself. Not cause I am pussy, but cause I have done it and learned that it's not safe, healthy, normal, or good for one person to do alone. Not at this property. So I will be ready with "get out of jail" card just in case I go out with a big bang.

***
I love change. It's so good.

XOXOOOX

My Ducks! xoxo

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ducks are fast becoming some of my favorite critters around the Luck Cabin. They are loyal, hilarious, self preserving, self sufficient, lay the best tasting eggs in the world, they take naps with me when i lay down in the sun, and they enjoy the company of chickens.
*
This video is somewhat mundane, but it makes me so happy to watch them - they make me smile and laugh every single day!



PS.... wanna see something that is total hilarity and so wrong :::
GO HERE and watch baby ducks blowing in the wind!

XOXOxoox

TO DO LIST for the Luck Cabin

Sustainable living is kind of a strange thing... you try to live in the moment, and enjoy seasons as they are but at the same time you have to always be preparing for the seasons ahead. If you take a break, you basically won't be prepared- which means way more headache if you are living mostly off grid. You can be half assed in the city about alot of things and still live quite comfortable, turning up the thermostat whenver you want a lil' more warmth........ a DIY eco- lifestyle takes a certain amount of vigilance. Maybe even what seems incredible amounts when starting out.
The past few weeks I have been running a TO DO LIST in my head of things that have to be done here, before the next winter... or so I think the goal is ::::::::::

#1. Finish the drainage for the GREY WATER SYSTEM. ---- the pipes have to be put in the ground and the plants put in on top the spot where the sink and tub will drain to.

#2. Put up yet another gate to keep the donkey from running away, and keep the other animals safer. (Bobcat came and killed half my 'zoo' this week... bunnies and chickens.)

#3. Build a cordwood outhouse for summer & guest use because the composting toilet isn't party friendly and is not compsting all that great. (this doesnt go for all composting tiolets, just the one i have really.)

#4. Insulate the cabin, which basically means re-building the thing from the outside! lol ,TOO huge a project for me to think about.

#5. Make it so the plumbing stops freezing.... AKA, 6 inches of insulation on the pipes, possibly wall in under the house with cinder blocks & rocks?

#6. Fix outside shower which exploded during the winter cause it still had a small amount of PVC piping still on it. (none of the PEX piping broke or came apart.)

#7. Unclog the clothes hand washer drain, so i can wash clothes in it again.

#8. Fix the leak in the pond and have it dredged so that the water can fill up properly again. Also add fish!

THE END. . . . . . I'll start with the easiest first......

XOXOXO

Building A Frog Habitat in the Pond

One of the reasons I was not sure if i wanted ducks is because I knew they would eat up my tadpoles, reducing the amount of native frogs I have in my pond. Before the ducks ever arrived I had started to build a frog safe place along the edges of the pond - by taking small dead hemlock trees and piling them up. Still though, i have way less frogs then normal because much of what i built was moved, decayed, or gawd knows what during the winter freezes..... and the ducks came in to massacre what was out in the open. I was excited to still see in some of the hemlock habitats i built, tadpoles and a group of frogs all in one space. So i took that spot, and made what was a froggie shack, into a frog multi-plex mansion!

I layered and extended the branches further out into the water, while also extended further out onto the land connected... putting more small branches on top of larger ones. Like building a debris shelter, a skeleton of a home.

The smaller tiny branches, block the ducks from getting under there.... and so they avoid that spot, and ravage the rest of the pond. Now to fix the pond leak.... omgawd!

Xoxoxox

A Walk In The Clouds

This is why they call them the Smokey Mountains. Sometimes I might spend half a day in the clouds, a thick white fog. In New Orleans it rolled off the river, here it rolls across mountain tops.

It can make the mundane, turn spooky and beautiful.

It can transform your driveway, into a portal of unknown destination.

It washes out everything behind you, and everything in front of you in a way I find much more soothing then the white of snow. This white haze is something I am familiar with, i love it the way i love the sounds of barges on the mississipi river and a train blowing it's horn.

(song of the day ::: Crave You .... i like how they switch lives. I wanna do that one day. Watch the video. )

XOXoxoxox

Ms. Buttersworth The Chicken Improves!

*
Here is my vid of Ms. Buttersworth my sick (but less sick now) chicken over the last 3 days. She is still staying in the Luck Cabin with me, but seems to be improving - thanks to everyone for their comments, ideas and help!



PS- For those that mighta missed it... Ms Buttersworth was acting strange, not seeking out food, shivering, hiding from the other chickens, isolating herself, lacking hygiene habits, acting confused & scared. She was eating and drinking if the food & water was brought to her, she just wasn't making any effort for herself.
I put garlic, ginger and usnea in her water and am keeping her fed by the nice warm wood stove.

Xoxoxo

Ms. Buttersworth (the chicken) Moves In (temporarily)

The last few days Ms. Buttersworth the chicken has seemed to be gettin' senile. She had been a little clucky and weird a few weeks before that, I thought maybe she was going through a possible nesting phase... but then she just seemed cold, confused, and I got that nursing home vibe. The last rung on the sanity ladder. Her lil' red comb on her head turned half black and patchy, flopped over a bit. When I would pick her up she seemed to be shivering, and was hiding in the corner of JuJu the donkey's hay pile.
So now Ms. Buttersworth is in the warmth of the Luck Cabin, her own private box with food & water... and a cat 'nurse' to watch over her. Toots the cat has been making BiG EyEs since I let Ms. ButterCrazy inside.
She eats and drinks. She just doesn't roost, or hang out with her friends, or seem to know where she is going...
is this chicken old age?
XOxoxo

Snowed

I'M BACK!
Sorry about the few days of M.I.A but we had our first silly slick wet icey snow storm here in the mountains, and well, my particular spot is much like a frozen Yukon. I got more snow then any one else in the area, and despite 60 degree weather now some ice patches still remain up here at the Luck Cabin. The electricity came and went and came back again, my running water in the house went and came back... then my internet went away and didn't come back till this morning.
...
'No electricity' is not too bad in the snow for me because I have a wood stove that keeps me warm, i can cook on it and heat up water. The pipes freezing in my cabin sucks, but I have a non electric pump outside that won't freeze and holds water underground so I always have my spring water.
No internet though... UHG. I missed contact with the outside world. It's only natural, biological, historical and human. At least I have my animals....
JuJu was not a fan of the thicker, deeper snow. Neither were the chickens. Neither was I. The animals stayed in the mini barn for shelter and warmth.
...
COOL TRICK FOR 'HEATING' BARN STALLS::: I read in my Donkey Companion book that keeping some donkey poop in their stall mixed with the wood shaving or hay actually helps keep it warm in the winter due to the heat produced by the composting process. I knew that alot of heat is produced by composting, but I wasn't sure it would really work in this application. But I found that JuJu's stall was warmer then outside. :)

Xoxoxo

Artifacts Of The Luck Cabin

I found the Pepsi Cola can while hiking in the woods... the Pabst Blue Ribbon & Atlas Mason jar were dug up by my archaeologist chickens. :)
The cans are so thick, no one would ever make a can that thick these days unless it was holding motor oil. You can see how they had the older thinner/narrow flip tops.

This is totally before advertising took the flashy splashy subliminal turn it thrives in now, because all pepsi had to say for itself was "colored with caramel".

And Pabst beer's big splashy announcement ::: "no opener needed".

The Atlas mason jar was empty, but I like to imagine some moonshine had once been in it and had to be buried to keep it secret. But it all leaked out when the top rusted.

Xoxoxo

Watercress, from grocery to pond

When it comes to food and saving money I can be one of the most oportunistic shoppers ya eva' met. Not that I am the lady who pulls out all the coupons and holds up the line cause the half of them are expired- I am the lady who is secretly looking for produce that will keep on giving. Produce with seeds in it that I can plant (winter squash, apples, pears, avacodoe), root veggies (like turnips, rutabaga, radishes, beets) I can put the tops back in the ground to later eat their greens and get seeds from them after they flower, I even plant the bottoms of my onions and eat the green stems that grow back out.
My latest grocery find though has me majorly stoked! Watercress... organic watercress being sold not at the health food store but at the regular ole' grocery... watercress that still had it's ROOTS.
*
I bought the watercress straight up to plant in my pond, mushy spring water spots...
I searched around my pond for a good soggy place to plant those roots in the ground, in hopes to have watercress growing in bunches over the next few years.
I dug a hole easily with a stick, you can see the water seeping into the hole...
Looking bee-U-Tee-ful... now i can pick a few greens off to eat and let the rest make a home here.
I love LoVe LOVE grocery items that keep on giving. :)
Do any of ya'll do this too, with grocery foods?
UPDATE:::
Thanks to oko box reader Jason for pointing out that this is a different kind of Cress then watercress, it's called * upland cress * and does not grow in the water like watercress. It grows on land.
Go to Jason's Blog, he has cool as hec pictures of animals he caught on one of those special motion cameras!

xoxox

Splitting Logs, ft. JuJu the Donkey

I know. I am almost obsessed with splitting wood, luckily it's a healthy 'hobby' that will build muscle, get my heart working, make my lungs take deeper breaths, give me strong fingers and arms... and then heat my house without causing a huge heating bill this winter. Saving money is sweet, and so will be cooking on my wood stove.

Here is a short video I made yesterday morning while starting to split logs... the big wood pile to my left is what I had split the morning before. The big donkey who appears is JuJu. :)



xoxoxo

Dancing In The Luck Cabin

That "crazy hippy" is me. Dancing in the Luck Cabin. By myself, just like Billy Idol suggests...... (it's very good for your health!)
Thought I would start off my video camera testing/testing 123 with an embarrassing hilarious BANG!



Now ya'll know what I do when I am taking a break from splitting logs, cooking meals, taking care of animals, walking in the peaceful woods and writing blog posts. ;)

Xoxoxox

Quack, Quack!

My ducks! These are the two duckies my uncle gave me for my birthday...
brown and beautiful. He said he at first thought he brought me two females, but by the time he left my cabin he thought he may have brought me a male and a female. And ya'll know what that'll mean...
DUCK BABIES. Which will make me totally cry cause baby ducks always make me cry with the powers of their cuteness.
This breed of ducks (which i have no idea what they are called cause my memory is about as good as one of those peeps in a nursing home with dementia), they lay alot of eggs. Like over 300 a year! The only catch is ducks don't really lay a nest of eggs in a regular place, so when you want to find the eggs it's like a easter egg hunt everytime. :)

JuJu the donkey seems to be uneffected by the ducks for the most part... especially since they are not in the gated area with her and the chickens. Beyond the gate she understands it's a free world, where she doesn't have to stomp ya. Plus, ducks can swim.

Xoxoxox

A Recluse Who Has A Party?

I did... for the first time in ten years. I had myself a little party.
It started out sweet with many close family members, some neighbors and my uncle setting up a shelter for the two ducks he gave me as a gift! I love ducks :))))
It progressed to a raging awesome bon fire with friends, and lots of good inappropriate conversation topics being discussed, like composting toilets... which generally leads to talk of urine and diarrhea. We talked alot about roaches too. These are things I love to talk about.
But as the night draws on boys tend to want kisses...

and I start to wanna rock out to satellite radio by a warm cabin fire....

and it ends close to when I pull out my best dance move, which is a New Orleans thing called 'poppin' I learned when i was 16. Two african american girls at my catholic school shut the classroom door when the teacher stepped out and told all the white girls they were going to show us how to actually dance! They jumped upside down on a wall and basically booty shook & humped the wall with their school skirts falling over their heads. I learned it right away and have been sharing it ever since.

At my party... I am 'poppin' on my own fridge.

Before I had this first party as a recluse I wondered if i'd ever want to have another one again after it was over....

I wonder no longer. Parties are good to have, and human nature is hilarious.

xoxxoooo