Green Acres

First thing anyone tells you when they hear you're going to Fort Worth is, You gotta go to the Stockyards. My family has lived here three years now, and this is our third, maybe fourth visit, with each visit lasting from one week up to four months. We have yet to see the Stockyards. Some travelers we are. We can't help it though, my folks have this great pad that we really find no reason to leave it.


When my parent's were looking for a place here in Texas they knew they wanted to get something big enough for us to park our bus at, so they spent months trying to find the right place. Most places here barely have room to park on the street, so finding this place was like finding a needle in a haystack. They're even on a hill that overlooks Fort Worth, when anyone will tell you there are NO hills in DFW. Their ultimate plan though when they retired was to get a place near my brother and then travel, travel, travel. They also have not left their Green Acres, as they've lovingly named it. Instead my Dad has finally gotten his own John Deere tractor that he's always dreamed of, and have immersed themselves completely into transforming their place into a little something for everyone. They want us to feel completely at home here, and they've done almost too good a job of it.


Besides the Organic Tribe visiting, we've also had Cliff and Heather from Iowa come over. It was good to see friends from Iowa again, and Joey really enjoyed talking to Cliff about his tour in Iraq.


The weather here is so sporadic, you never know what you're going to get from one day to the next. We've definitely learned to take advantage of the good days though!
Whether it be a redneck hayride for the kids

Listening to my nephew jam on the guitar, jump on the trampoline or pogo stick, swim in the jacuzzi, or just watch the kids ride their various wheels




or just surf the net or watch TV, there's never a boring day.
It's always fun to watch the chickens watching us, too.

The rooster doesn't always join the hen, but she can be found here almost the ENTIRE day.

He's usually wherever we are in the yard. It's funny to go through my pictures and find him in so many of them. Jewel and her cousin in the jacuzzi, there's Brownie. Joey working on his truck, there's Brownie again.

One day we had uninvited visitor's, though.

A herd of mini horses! They were rampaging the neighborhood and stayed to graze in the neighbor's backyard for a while.


Even the bad, as in bad I mean fricken COLD, days, aren't so bad here. We stay inside sipping cocoa by the fire, waiting for the sun to pop back out.

Special occasions we get dressed and go a couple miles to my brother's house where he's got the ultimate indoor entertainment pad. We had a Korean food night one night where my sister in law out did herself. It was my idea, but somehow she did all the work. We also had Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve there, as well as the Superbowl Party. I've also learned one thing by all these gatherings: I think I know why I like living in an RV so much....I'm never expected to entertain. I'm just there for the party!

Another bonus about Green Acres, the sunsets:


And since I never see a sunrise, my Mom grabbed my camera to show me what one looks like here.


So...besides physical therapy three days a week still, my constant texting with Angela and whining about my excessive weight gain, this is what we've been up to. I love my life.

If you have a blog.....

....You may actually have people who read it.


Last week while Joey was at work (back on the pipeline) there was a knock at the bus door. When I opened it, in my JAMMIES, a couple was standing there and introduced themselves as Tom and Nancy from Florida, and said that he has actually been reading my blog for a couple years!! I was shocked, first because I didn't think anyone other than unschooling mom's read it, and secondly because he found us! They were traveling in Colorado in their RV and after reading my last post about Rifle Falls State Park, decided to check it out. Third shock, is someone actually LISTENED to me! He may not have actually listened, but he liked my photos enough to have to see it for himself. He tried swimming in the creek like our kids but determined they were Superkids with an unnatural liking to glacier water.

For some reason I wasn't freaked out AT ALL. I probably should have been, but they were such a nice couple, have a Bluebird bus of their own, although theirs is a Wanderlodge, not a wanna-be...plus they wanted to take us out to dinner. How could we NOT like them?

When Joey got home we swam in the lake with them, while Nancy kept a keen eye out for gators, being from Florida and all, but what she really had to watch out for were the biting fish....and bite they did. Right after I bragged how I've never been bit by one, I had one try to rip a mole off my chest. Ooo, it still hurts just thinking about it.

They treated us to fried pickles, huge burgers and pizza at the local bar and grill, and since the RV park was full they headed on down the road after supper. They've invited us to their lake house in Florida whre they plan on turning our kids into waterskiers....we can't wait!

Now I'm wondering who else reads this that I don't know about? Can I have a roll call, please? A simple, "I do" will be fine. Thanks!

Texas to Colorado

When we left Fort Worth, it was about forty degrees and sunny, so I wasn't prepared for the white road trip home. I get a little delusional sometimes and believe the sun will always be shining. I also believe West = Warm so coming into more and more snow the farther west we went, wasn't in my thinking. The best white stuff we came across though was somewhere between Fort Worth and The Panhandle (that's a lot of somewhere, but that just goes to show how bad my memory is, and why I feel compelled to preserve what I can actually remember)....It was cotton! Lots and lots of cotton. During my years in Mesa, AZ I saw small cotton fields, but it was nothing compared to the thousands of acres we drove through. At times I couldn't tell the difference between the cotton balls blowing across the road to rest in the tumbleweeds and the snow hiding out in the shade. Joey packed my car and my camera, so many times I was tempted to stop right in the middle of the highway just to pick some up...but when I heard "Mom, you're slowing us down!" I trudged on. Jonas was surprised to hear that cotton grows from a plant, so that led to a discussion of other wearable plants. Which led to man made fibers, and everyone wanting to know what they were wearing, and how it was made. Ummmm.....I know hemp and cotton grow in the dirt....How far did you say you got your battle droid, Jake?

The first night we stayed in a hotel in New Mexico, which must have been built in the Fifties. We entered our room from the outside, but had another door on the other side that entered into a HUGE indoor room, complete with pool tables, trees, picnic tables, sunroofs, and a pool. It'd be a great place for a gathering of friends or families, but odd to be so close to so much entertainment, like a big backyard, but inside.

We stayed with friends the next night in their cabin in the woods. Just a little cabin with four patios, two level garage, heated floors, five bathrooms, thirty ton rock fireplace with waterfall, and our private set of suites downstairs by the hot tub. Did I mention the million dollar views out the two story high windows? I couldn't talk them into goldfish for the moat around the fireplace, though.

Originally we were going to go back home the same way we went down, over Vail Summit via I-70, but all about new drives, we opted for scenic byways cutting right through the middle of the State. That was such a good decision, too. Not just because of it's beauty, but they ended up closing Vail Pass later on in the day.

I found my camera, only to find it's dead, but not to fear...I broke out the camera phone!

Heading towards the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, was a sight like no other.

Monarch Pass ~ Now this was a sight that was hard to see.


It was really frightening at times, but as long as I could see Joey's taillights I didn't panic...much.

Bi-cicle anyone?

Traveling and Socialization

Tomorrow we'll have been here four weeks. That's about max for us. We were planning on leaving soon for a rig job in Oklahoma anyway, when yesterday morning Joey gets a call wanting him in Iowa to do some rebuild work at a Cargill plant, also with his welding rig. OK calls and says it's postponed until the end of August and Iowa says he can stay for as little or as long as he likes.....oh yeah, Des Moines here we come!!! I can't freakin believe we actually got a call out of the blue for DSM. I get to see all my girls! I mean, beautiful unschooling mothers, that make me laugh my ass off...in other words, my friends. I literally cannot get this grin off my face.



Seeing other unschooling kids couldn't be coming at a better time either. Everyone that doesn't homeschool is always worried that kids that do homeschool won't get "socialized" somehow. Isn't that funny how those that don't worry about those that do? And that pertains to a lot of things in life, not just schooling. Anyway, the last month the kids have been playing with a lot of kids, a lot more than they're used to. At Lake McConaughy Jonas had an encounter with a little boy that wouldn't stop calling him a girl, yet Jake was friends with this kid. The last night there he(Jonas) met a friend and teared up when I told him we were leaving the next day. He said he made plpans to meet his friend the next night. By the next morning Jonas had forgot all about it and we happily moved on. Whew. Now we're here in small town Nebraska where everybody and their dog knows eachother. Girls quickly gather around the boys at the pool and they make fast friends with a pair of sisters. I notice right off the bat a gang of tween boys that can't do anything for themselves without their leader telling them how to do it. I'm happy the boys found nice girls to play with. The lifeguards have also fallen in love with the boys by now. They tell them they want to be their girlfriends and date them. Now the other boys are starting to take notice and try to befriend Jacob. They include him in their stupid game of chicken and immediatley Jake doesn't like their rules, and won't play their way. He won't flip off the diving board and these boys are trying to make him. He calls them freaks and jumps off. The next time they're all at the pool together Jake makes friend with a different boy and this gang comes and tells the boy not to be friends with Jake, and by the way Jake, tell your mom short hair is in so you need a haircut. Jake stands up for himself and heads to the boards, where ELEVEN boys now proceed to throw balls at him while he's twelve feet in the air. His lifeguard girlfriends kick all eleven hometown boys out of the pool for the rest of the summer!

How's that for socialization? I felt horrible I wasn't there to protect him, but so thankful the lifeguards were watching out for them. It was sad to think that if my kids were in school with those boys, they could have turned out the same way. They can have their competition, greed, narcissism, and feeling of entitlement, we'll keep our peace, love, respect, compassion and empathy, and we'll be gone by next week.

Day at an Iowan Farm

After spending the night with friends in Iowa we all decided to go with them the next day to do chores at their friend's farm. Originally the guys weren't going to go but Angie convinced them we'd get them done in half the time if they helped, so they loaded up all the kids in the back of their truck, and us ladies took the air conditioned, non dust swirling, van, and we were off. Last time we'd been to Kathy's farm the kids got yelled at for chasing the geese and ducks, and for just plain running around. This time, Kathy is gone and the kids can go wild. Jewel starts up right where they left off...


Turned out to be a really good thing the guys came, there were seven goats on the lamb! It was hilarious watching everyone chase the goats, but ended up turning our one hour chore into three hours. Still, it was quite an adventurous time! This goat tried to eat me:


While "Guard Goose" attacked anyone that neared the feathered babies:


Joey ended up standing guard so the kids could capture the baby ducks that had just been born hours earlier.

They were catching them to protect them from the cats, and to eventually be adopted by our friends. Our friends that will soon be moving into our old farm house that my cousin is currently living in. That is one popular piece of property!

Jewel was in heaven with those baby ducks! She was holding one the entire time we were on the farm!


Joey grew up on a ranch and he swears this is how you walk the cows.

He did other questionable things with the milking machine, but I'll spare you that picture.

Jewel wanted to hold a big chicken so bad, that our friend's boy nearly collapsed from exhaustion, but he caught her a chicken.....but there was no way she was going to hold it....but isn't she perty?


Then Jonas had to test his chicken chasing skills, and proud to say he came out victorious!


Jake didn't have as good of luck with the cow, but he had fun trying.


Jewel doesn't care about anything, she's in duck love.


Goat Girl taking a break from milking:


And when we finally let her out of her cage we went back to their place where more friends came over to see us.


It was a good day, and while we had planned to stay another night we ended up heading out just before dark. We had another friend to meet in NW Iowa so we met him at his campground, and slept in a tent! I was actually looking forward to tent camping for a change, but after the insanity setting up the tent caused, and the horrendous musty smell of a Vietnam era tent, it may take a while to get me back in one. We're not even half way home yet.....tomorrow, South Dakota!

To see the rest of the pictures click here.

Escaping the Texas Heat

Despite the heat and sunburns, we had a really great time in Texas. Our quick business trip turned into a really nice visit with family, and even an unexpected visit with old friends. Joey's old high school girlfriend, to be exact. I was a little nervous to meet her, but she was as great as Joey always said she was. I felt instantly comfortable, and turns out we have a lot in common. Not only do they also homeschool their three kids, but they've often dreamed of selling everything and hitting the road in an RV. We're looking forward to many family vacations together.


The sun finally went in hiding and allowed us a couple cool days before heading back home. My brother's family came over often and we bribed him almost as often to just leave the kids with us.


Jonas wore himself out chasing butterflies.




We won the bid for the welder, and Joey couldn't have been happier. He barely slept all night in anticipation of picking up his new machine, and it turned out the ol' guy that had completely rebuilt the '59 Lincoln, was just as excited. He worked meticulously on the welder, and it showed, but he had no idea what to expect, so he was thrilled to get what he did for it......he deserved every penny.

So we decide to leave the old welder in Texas, putting it up on eBay, when our friends back in Colorado call and say they want to buy it. We really don't want to tow it back, but he's offering full price, and he's a friend, so Joey mounts it on a small trailer and we haul it back. Oh yeah, we also decide we're not going straight back, we're going to pay a quick visit to Iowa and then go back to Colorado.

We couldn't leave without some excitement first. I talk Mom into making those big onion blossoms that we've been talking about for years now. Only let's not make sure we don't overflow the deep fryer as Mom drops the onion in. Holy crap, I managed to turn the electric burner off but we couldn't put out the fire so I ran out to Joey screaming for the fire extinguisher. He grabbed it off his welder, since their kitchen extinguisher was nowhere to be found, and ran in and saved the day. Actually my Dad had Joey give it to him and then had to ask how to use it, just details, but he did save the kitchen. :)