Catching up....again!

Hey! How are you? Me? I'm good. Busy, but good. I  have a new logo!!!The pics above all kind of represent what I've been doing lately. The sunsets have been awesome. I don't know if they are just more spectacular this time of year or if I just haven't ever taken the time to notice them (ahem, haven't spent as much time outside). But they are so lovely, each and every day. Some of them I view from the river, some from the front yard. Not a single one of them are bad. I would love to capture them all but how many sunsets do you all want to see? I guess it's part of what I'm doing so I'll share some as we go along.Speaking of moving along, I think I want to make this space more of a daily living journal. I've locked myself into chickens over on social media, but there's a lot more to what I'm doing than just the chickens. I'm learning to be self-sufficient and learning how to be frugal and trying to homestead while living at a fishing lodge. There's something to that I think. It's too bad that I've missed a lot of the antics of the early season fishing lodge. That would make for some good stories! We said good-bye to two of our guides this week. The season is slowing down a little so the guides won't be around as much which means we get some of the house back. I'll be moving back into the house kitchen after we get back from vacation. We moved the TV back downstairs (we lost our TV room to one of the interns so he could have a private bedroom. Not a big deal but we jammed everything upstairs in our tiny living quarters). It feels good to be able to spread back out again! And as a bonus, I now have a little computer area upstairs in our living quarters so I can really get down to business now!What else? Oh! I went to a dairy fest a couple of weeks ago and bought one of those cute metal roosters. Mine isn't pictured. I need to figure out where to put him and then take a picture. For now he's resting on my computer table keeping me company while I write about chickens and homesteading.Speaking of being frugal, I'm ready to start really trying to reduce our spending and living with what we have. I have the garden planted as much as I'm going to. I'll take pictures and do a big post on that when we get back from vacation. I know you're not supposed to tell people you're going on vaca but we always have people stay at our house when we're gone. In this case we live at the fishing lodge where people are always around! Oh. And I'll post about my mealworm farm too. That's going really well. We're molting into beetles now and then it will be egg laying/hatching into mealworms. Then it's time to start feeding the girls mealworms! YAY! Speaking of girls, I have a post updating you on the chickens scheduled for Monday. Stay tuned.The nephews are coming for a visit at the end of July and that's exciting. It will be the first time the two youngest ones have been to NY for a visit. It will be low-key. They all love the outdoors and fishing, hunting, camping, etc. We'll camp out at the pond and roast marshmallows over a fire. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the summer and fall and just doing what makes me happy. I've continued reading Milkweed & Teasel which keeps things in perspective. I haven't really found any good books lately so I've just continued to read her blog again.What else? I'm looking forward to a couple of days away from the homestead and then getting back to business. I still have to make soap plus process the strawberries into something (post on that soon). And then I have a ton of leftover rolls in the freezer that I need to make into breadcrumbs. I need to move back into the house kitchen plus visit another pick-your-own place for produce for the freezer. I cleaned the car for the first time in a looong time. It's an older subaru and we were going to trade it in recently but decided to not spend the money right now. I like that. We're being frugal. But with that comes the need to take better care of the car. It's our only working vehicle right now and has over 236,000 miles. The AC doesn't work (electrical issue that we will get fixed soon), it's dented and scratched. But it's the first car I ever bought on my own as an adult. I love it. We call it the grocery getter. And it's schlepped bag after bag of chicken feed, straw, wood, pine shavings, and everything else, so it's hard to let go of. We'll give her a new lease on life by taking better care of her for the time being. I just wiped her down and vacuumed her out since it's cold and rainy today. I'll really scrub her down soon.I better run now and pack! I'll see you all when I get back. There will be lots to share and catch you up on again. I'm scheduling a couple of posts so you won't be without me completely. Have a great week!