Our Newest Homesteader

We have a new addition to our family here at the Homestead, Mr. J.

He was a "rescue" when he was adopted by some good friends of ours. That was back when they were child free...

Then this guy  came along and Mr. J was not so happy about the new family dynamic. Especially when baby became mobile.

By that time we had bonded with Mr. J and so he has come to live with us.

He was kind of worried for a month or two. I think he had a pretty sad life back before he was adopted by our friends. He was very afraid of riding in a car. I think maybe he had been dumped from a car.

We have been taking him for short, fun rides every day for a couple of months now. I've been feeding him lots of treats in the car and he has gone from running away when I get my car keys out (then throwing up from anxiety), to enjoying a car trip to San Francisco and jumping into the car when I ask him to.
We are having a great time with him and I think he is having a good time with us.

And he is fitting right in with our City Dogs Gone Wild program here at the Homestead.

In fact when the farrier came to trim the horses hooves, Mr. J wasn't

sure about the hoof trimmings until Mr. B began grabbing them up. Then Mr. J was right in there grabbing up the

amazingly stinky and wonderful chew treats. I do not let these guys kiss me on the face, that's for sure.

Old Rusty Things I Pulled Out of the Woods

A friend came by last week with a mission to get some old boards from a collapsed barn here at the Homestead. He is making some cool little garden benches for our Community Garden Association to sell at the big Spring Plant Fair.

He has a lot of energy and know how, so when he suggested we pull the old Terry travel trailer out of the woods I was a little reluctant, but his enthusiasm won me over.

The trailer had been parked there for over 25 years and I had basically stopped seeing it.

I knew it would be a good thing to pull it out but I was a little nervous about wrecking something- namely my car.



A tree had fallen down onto the shed it was resting against and by some miracle the tree had not poked a hole in the little trailers roof.

 

The tires were flat and the hitch jack had rusted solid so I had to pull the trailer while digging a 3" furrow the whole way. Not easy in this rocky terrain My little Subaru did it though.

 Now I just have to decide what to do with it. It is full of Pack Rat nests, but doesn't smell too bad. Surprisingly it has not leaked and so the frame and interior seems to be sound.

I am going to take a shop vac and scrubby sponge to it and see what we have to work with. It may turn into another little guest house, or if it is road worthy we will find a new home for it.

That same day we were rooting around in the collapsed barn and I found this cool double sink. I am pretty sure it is meant to be used with a hand cranked wringer for doing laundry. (I had some  photos of where it sat but I pressed "delete" a little too soon on my new camera.)

It is rusted through in tiny spots but I am thinking I could coat it with some kind of roof sealant or something and make it useful again. For now it is propped up at the Art Shack looking cool.