Last Gasp of Winter and Two New Books Built...
2 nights of frost this week. And I had to cut more firewood. Meanwhile, the cows went through these nights unfazed. While our own tiny cottage kept us cozy. I got back to building books again...
Hi,
Thanks again for being here and opening this. For being part of this community.
(Note: this is probably too long for email, and so may cut off. In such case, there’s a link at it’s end to read all the verbosity online…)
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Farming News - New cabin project is in it’s planning stage. Cows are grazing wide on fresh grass now.
Writing News - Two new books in their building phase.
Fiction News - The Hooman Saga serial continues. Our main characters are each in their own crisis.
Expectancy Factor - The beta book is released! Along with its supplement…
And - a book bonus down below….
Farming News
Spring weather continues, as we move into April. Two frost-nipped nights this past week. So we find our flowering fruit trees work to get their flowers set into fruit on both sides of such nights. Wild plums and our big centennial pear were on the early side, while the Arkansas Black apple next to our cottage is just starting to bloom.
Our last frost is traditionally April 15th.
I’ve got a lot of fencing coming up. Because I need to get those cattle rotating through and leaving the grass to grow up otherwise. Always a trick in the first part of spring. After a decade of this, I’m still learning, but always getting better.
We should start having calves soon. Last year, our first showed up on the last day of March. Now I have to start checking T&A again, to see which cows are loose in their backends and have milk coming on.
I’ve also got some fencing to do on our own property, so that the cows can be shut out of our land, grazing whatever we aren’t using while we build (see just below this…)
Herds and Grazing
Still planning to transplant some Miscanthus this year. That is part of my fencing plan. Because Miscanthus takes three years to establish - so I have to protect it from the cattle, just like I have to fence out the seedlings I’ll be planting this year.
Double fencing is simply setting in a second set of post and polywire. I moved tools and supplies yesterday, and can set in new posts a bit each day, along with insulators, then string the wire once that’s all in place.
Tiny Homesteading News
Writer’s Cabin
All but done. Shelves are sturdy, screwed into the wall frames. With the Spring storms, a small oil-filled radiator heater keeps it cozy - meaning I’ve got it all sealed in. Mounted a wall fan I’d bought and stored years ago. Soon, I’ll make the time to fire up that computer. But I have a mostly unused Chromebook laptop on the cottage that I should bring over and make sure the wi-fi works.
It’s basically ready to roll wherever I need it. Yes, I’ll clean and paint that back outside back end before it goes anywhere. And the wheel rims need spray-painted green to match the accents. When I make the time.
New Cottage Build
The big news is now that I’ve rediscovered an old frame for a mobile home - 10’x48’ - 8-inch steel I-beams under it. This helps us as it saves us the cost of concrete. And we can have a cheaper pole barn erected over it.
Our idea is to somehow drag that up to where we want it and level it out, block it up. I removed the axles from that frame some years back, so it could be used for storing hay. (But then found I could save time by having it unloaded in rows, but fed out on a grid.) So that frame sets the tiny home on a good foundation. Getting it up a quarter-mile of road is the next hurdle.
Once my wife got the idea to the concept that we’d be building our own non-mobile home, she warmed to the idea. Because we visited many mobile homes, and there was always something missing, something out of place. It was always someone else’s idea of what they thought we wanted. And the price was always out of reach. Way out.
We’d always said that we could do better if “this” were just “over there” and so on. I told her that we could build this just the way we wanted. So she got out the graph paper and started sketching. No, it’s not final yet. (But when momma’s happy…)
She’s got it at 16’by48’ now, which is simple carpentry to extend that frame with wood joists and supports. Building a pole barn around it then allows us to do the carpentry inside, as the building will be “dried in” and weather-proof. That also gives us a permanent building with roots deep beneath it, so won’t be going anywhere in high winds. Starting out with a barn gives us certain tax advantages in a rural area.
And the advantage of that metal frame is that we can cut a trench for later adding our drain and septic system, which is a huge expense, but not needed up front.
Photos and other stuff later. A continuing story starts…
Other Farm News
No news on that pond guy. It’s been too wet to even bother calling him.
We got some trees from the Arbor Day folks, and will plant them this week. A half dozen Norway spruce, a crabapple, a couple of redbud, plus other flowering plants. While I’m busy planting these, I’ll transplant my wild apple sprouts onto our property.
Writing News
Still needing to get proofs for that pentalogy of books (my five Writerpreneur books). I keep this sentence here to remind myself.
This week, I built the scaffolding for two books: The Expectancy Factor and The Magic of Believing Field Guide and Review. I’ve got some work to do in proofing and so on, but the beta-version is ready for both (see below to get your advance copy).
It’s design is similar to Writerpreneur Series, with audio-lesson courses built out of the books that make it up.
And like that series, The Expectancy Factor is built on my quarter-century of research into the human experience and how to help people get what they want out of life - as well, as discovering the evergreen principles that makes “self-help” work.
Newsletter News
Expectancy Factor will start showing up Tuesdays this next week. Tiny Homesteading after that, once I have this book going along. Again, each newsletter comes with it’s own audio and will be part of a course.
Once the Copywriting for Authors lessons are done, I’ll be back to our next course in the Forgotten Secrets book - dealing with Creating Compelling Characters. A few weeks out.
Comment if you like. Your input is useful.
Also published this week (ICYMI):
Writerpreneur Lessons
To avoid failures, you have to know your product and your market - then tailor your headline and copy to interest that market, those buyers. Again, it’s not using swipe files or over-used marketing-speak - it’s research: know before you go.
Fiction Posts
The Hooman Saga - XXV & XXVI - Serial Fiction
XXV Tig lead his small pack of hunters toward the main camp. All sign was that it was empty. Fires had done their trick. The sentients scouted around the edge of it and paused at streams to quench their thirst. It was a series of dens in a hillside, amongst fallen trees and old boulders. Shale falling from the cliffs above gave an uphill approach to the …
Tig’s in trouble, as well as Sue and Teacher in her probe…
Expectancy Post
This is a key excerpt from the Expectancy Factor book. When you get this concept, then life becomes much simpler and also just as exciting as you expect.
Thanks for being there, opening this.
Sharing is caring. You’re who I do this all for. I value your input.
Leave a comment if something strikes your fancy.
I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.
PPS. And you can always buy me a coffee…
Bonus:
Here’s the nearly-final version of a book-in-progress the beta Expectancy Factor.
2 1/2 decades of research compiled into one massive book and a supplement.
Currently available as ebook (epub and pdf).
Audio lessons available soon.
As it’s updated, you’ll be able to download the most recent version, as well as the course lessons for no extra cost. (I have to set it at a $1 minimum so Gumroad will host the audio files. As usual, it’s pay what you want, so you can come back to contribute more at any time.)
Two books - the Magic of Believing Guide isn’t pictured - yet.
