Well 2024 has been a wild year for me to say the least. I probably invested way to much time, energy and resources into finding and securing the the Right Woman LOL I finally picked one out of the many about 3 weeks ago. Hehe more than a few false starts that for one reason or another I or they backed out of it. More often than not it was me LOL I set a high bar and every one that looked promising started unload some serious baggage that they just could let go of. Found it very interesting while shopping the singles groups of a homestead/prepper/survivalist/offgrid nature how many of the men constantly lamented about none of the women being interested in them or talking to them. That was never a problem for me LOL I would post a I am on the market, here is what I bring to the table and here is what I am looking for a woman to bring to the table. Then over the next 3 days I would get 150-400 messenger message request and narrow those down to the most promising 10 or so and spend way too much time driving or flying all over the Country to meet for a date. LOL More than a few times I flew out of Lambert and had a dinner date in Maine and even visited Alaska twice for meet and greets and a date. Kept running into one major barrier with most of the high potential ones having their own place and set up and expected me to relocate to their place. Even though I made it crystal clear that I WOULD NOT BE THE ONE RELOCATING. So I changed the tactic a bit or rather A LOT and specified that I was looking for a woman that did not already have their own place and set up but wanted to come to a place that was a blank slate that we could fill in together. Which is/was accurate as I sold off all of the livestock and cleared all but the absolute essentials to support myself. That got a lot less interest from the Ladies but generated A LOT more interest from those not already chained down to a homestead/farmstead and unwilling to relocate. This last round I ended up with 3 very compatible and very good candidates. LOL sorry but meeting and dating now days is largely putting a resume out there and doing lots of phone and text interviews until you narrow it down to the ones you want to interview in person. I kind of wanted to stay in my own age range + or - 5 years but this last round the vast majority were in the 35-40 years old range and not in the 50-60 year old range. The finalist came in at 37 From NM, 41 From VT. and 58 From TX and I ended up spending a Week in TX, 4 days in NM and the one from VT flew here and spent a week. All three were pretty equally matched but in a lot of the same ways and also in a lot of different ways. This may be shallow of me but the winner was the 58 year old with one of the deciding factors being that she is past getting pregnant LOL. I absolutely do NOT want a baby at age 56 and I also do not want to end up paying child support for the rest of my life. The whole Grandpa Daddy thing has never appealed to me either. So I spent another week in TX a week ago moving all of her stuff into Storage in Lubbock. And making the first half of moving her to here. Her place was under contract within 24 hours of her listing it. And the first two trailer loads made the 1000 mile trip to here. LOL I emptied a 40' and 20' container out a good while back for when I found the right one and moved her here. So in 3 weeks now we make the 2000 mile round trip for her to close the deal on her property and Renting a 26' Uhaul and Car Trailer and Taking Red and my 35 foot Box Trailer to bring the rest of her stuff here. LOL I went down in the new Camry so had to bounce back up here and get a truck and the new stock trailer to move her horses here and the truck bed loaded and her truck and her RV loaded down as well. LOL only blew all 4 tires on the RV in the first 200 miles of round 1 of the move and fortunately they were 205/75/14s and every tire blew within 10 miles of a TSC that keep a good stock of those trailer tires in store and on rims. So after $1000 worth of tires,rims and jacks we made it home and spent the last 8 days getting her settled in and everything unloaded. The first thing unloaded were the horses. Been 9 years since I had horses on the pasture and now there is a pair of top notch 10 year olds out there getting fat and happy on the fall green. So here is the final winner that now is residing perm with me in the cabin on the farm Her name is Joan. And we get along and 99.99% compatible. And her Prized Possession is the 1965 low miles, Mustang Convertible that is getting its own special parking spot in the corner of the Machine shed when it comes here in 3 weeks Ok a 65 Mustang Convertible in Original Mint Condition with less than 15,000 miles on it.... is impressive. LOL it is making the 1000 mile trip to here on the Rented Car Hauler Trailer under a heavy tarp. LOL the old saying Two is One and One id None applies to more than STUFF Two of us working together toward the same goals and on the same page is a whole lot better than me or her going it alone Ending the ME ALONE was the biggest Prep for this coming winter! LOL we do look a little odd together with me at 6' 3" and her at 5' 2" but it works So after getting round one of the move made and her getting settled into her new home and world. It was time to get down to getting things ready for winter. I see that next week we will be dipping down into the 30s overnight and daytime highs in the 70s. So really been hitting splitting the firewood. Not going to repeat last winter and primarily use the Propane heaters! It cost me around $100 to make a winters worth of firewood and it cost Closer to $3000 to burn a winters worth of propane I kept 48 round bales of Orchard Grass/Red Clover Mix Hay. And the test bale I dropped in the ring for the horses was real popular. So we are in great shape in the hay department even if winter last until Next September Did some clearing and inventory on the food container and have it down to 3 chest freezers and got rid of a lot of the older canned goods that were a year past expired and just were not getting used. Stuff left over from another life that neither of us in this new life really would ever eat. So cleared the Cans to make room for next years home canned jars. Still have a years worth of Canned and Dry foods in the climate controlled half of the 40' and 2 years of Beef, Pork and Poultry in the Freezer half of the container. Will build it back up to 3 years in 2025 But more than good on food for this winter and into next summer. Have been enjoying some epic sunrises the last week! One of our daily rituals has been heading out to the porch around 6AM with the coffee and sitting there in the dark and watching the sunrise. And talking about what we are going to do over the winter, the Spring, and years out into the future. So looking over everything we are in good shape with Food, Fuel, and in general everything else for the coming winter when the temps really drop and the white starts flying. Another aspect of two instead of ONE is income and finances. Adding Joan to the equation doesn't raise the expenses much. When putting pen to paper it works out to about a $150 per Month increase in outgoing but adds another $2500+ to the household income. So with $1500 going out per Month now and $5200 per Month coming in we are financially in GREAT shape and much better off together than we were individually. A storm like America has never seen before is coming and I don't think we can even come close to steering away from it and will just have to ride it out and hope this old ship called the USA does not sink before we get to the other side of it. Yeah Two is a lot better and stronger than one.
Kamp glad you found a partner who can put up with you (Joking) Looks like you have been busy yea I think you are right the storm in the USA is coming
How's that song go? "5-foot-2, eyes of blue, koochy, koochy, koochy-koo..." So, you found her. Great! Because there's definitely a storm heading our way and it is better and surely safer to weather it with someone. Did Joan bring any dogs with her or just the Mustang (btw, really sweet car!)? I ask as wondering if Poo has got to go through the whole 'Who's the boss' routine again. She has got to be pretty special to leave Texas for Illinois...or totally bonkers! LOL! Congratulations to you both! Damn! You got snow already?!?!
That's quite a search!... I bet you'll have some great stories and memories from all of this. I really don't miss dating. LOL. Don't know how the young kids do it these days.
Congrats on finding a new mate Sir. Your brave dating woman from all over , plus staying over. I had a thought about your previous life when I couldn't find Ms Sloth in the am. I caught up with her and the dogs stacking firewood I split a few days early.I had a thought that id find her out or worse ,as I found my neighbour dead ,in his greenhouse cigar on floor and broken wine glass that he had for an afternoon break. Im glad you updated us with the new news and great thinking about the upcoming storm . Sloth
Last Winters pic of Snow And from what I saw of Texas it is a even bigger freak show than Carbondale. LOL 3 dogs in the 5 pound range and they promptly attacked BB my Rat Terrier and well Poo, Duke and PoP took about 1/2 second to have little dogs in their mouths shaking them like toys. LOL I yelled DROP it and all 3 bloody little dogs hit the floor. Thankfully none of them died but they give the big Dogs a lot of space now and little BB even more. She let me drive the Mustang over to the Lubbock Storage place....... Either I am damned good looking or that car gets a lot of double takes and stares. LOL fine line between brave and stupid TOTALLY SURE!!! I met a lot of interesting Ladies and Some scary ones but overall had a lot of fun traveling around. Don't want to do it again though!
Congrats to you , and the new misses,, Maybe now ,, your life can finally settle down a little,, and you're back to your own little slice of heaven that you've put a lot of dreams and sweat into creating. Congrats , kick back a little and enjoy it,, also ,, that's some really nice sunsets you have there .
Sunset Sunrise I get way more sunrise pics while having coffee than I do Sunsets when I am too beat to push the click click button LOL. Got that one more 2000 mile round trip to TX and back to make and then things will be getting normal. I gotta admit I am loving having someone around that is on the same page, same thoughts, dreams and goals and works with me and me with her instead of the constant endless debates and explaining WHY!
@Kamp Krap "Either I am damned good looking or that car gets a lot of double takes and stares." errr....KK, I hate to break it to you but...
Yeah, it's a 1965 Mustang in mint condition! Automatic or straight-shift? Too bad it's not a convertible.
