Video Diary, Pioneer Farms

Pioneer Farms from Helen Ruth on Vimeo.

A collection of photo's over the years of my family and friends. We've been working the living history museum for going on 6 years to supplement our homeschooling.

Like my spaghetti western music?

My Frisbee Loving Dawg

Sheba Time! from Helen Ruth on Vimeo.

Here's an experimental video clip I created. I'm trying to learn my Window's XP movie player to create some music videos. This is my first attempt, and not necessarily my first choice of music!

Ain't no luggage rack on a hearse!

I overheard that hearses don't have luggage racks.

I've never forgotten that.

The other day, my daughter and I were stressing over how much space will be LEFT in our backpacks. Will we have room for souvenirs?

On backpack forums, many people suggest that after you're done packing, take HALF back out. Then you're ready to go.

I'm an advocate for traveling light, but I doubt we'll reduce our packs that drastically. I've itemized our essentials down to a science. We know exactly how many items we plan to pack and what. I'll be posting more on this later.

As our trip draws closer, I'm reminded on how much this is costing. Sure, the thought enters my mind occasionally, could I have spent my money wiser on something else?

I can think of a million things to buy, other than a trip. Okay, I can think of a hundred million things.

But then I'm reminded that hearses have no luggage racks.

I think back on the time when my son was about to graduate homeschool. I felt frantic. We still hadn't taken that trip. Any trip. I wanted to build one more memory with my kids before life intervened with jobs, careers, obligations...

I arranged for us to fly to Los Angeles, and to drive a rental car to Las Vegas. My kids had never flown before, so I wanted them to experience their first flight, to see my birthplace in California, dip their toes into the Pacific Ocean, then take a scenic road trip to Las Vegas. It was one of our best memories ever!

My most memorable times are when my family reminisces about that scarry camping trip we took together, or that surreal day when we walked across the border into Mexico. We laugh about my son getting seasick on that deep sea fishing cruise, or the time I was unknowingly swimming with sharks in Matagorda. So many many memories that bond our family together. And that's what it's all about. Building a souvenir of memories. No luggage racks needed.

Flying the Coop

Our four hens found a new home today. They're headed for a nice farm north of us and will be free ranging 10 acres! I placed an ad last night and woke up to an avalanche of emails! It was a tough choice picking the right family. One person said their hen was lonely and would enjoy the companionship. I almost picked her, but then thought, did something eat the rest of their chickens? Another woman said she had just built a coop and wanted these to be her first chickens! She was so excited. Another guy said he'd like them as he had just built a rabbit hutch. Hmmmm

I selected the family who promised to take good care of them, as their chickens were pets too.
We decided to re-home our hens due to several factors. Mainly, we feared for their safety as they kept escaping from their coop. We had already lost another hen this way and it was a very sad loss. The other reason is over our decision to travel. We're already discussing our next trip by the end of the year. We realize that re-homing them is the right decision.

We are very glad to have had the experience of raising our own chickens in the city, and are thrilled that we've experienced them mature and lay their first eggs.
It was a great learning experience.

How to save a TON on groceries and lose a lot of weight!

You may be wondering, what does saving on groceries have to do with going on a trip?

Good question!

Since we've been walking several miles a day to get into shape (backpacking three countries is hard work, right?) I had the novel idea, HEY, LET'S WALK TO THE GROCERY STORE TO DO OUR SHOPPING!

So, we rounded up our grocery tote bags and laced our boots. Less than 2 miles later while perusing the produce section, I heard myself saying, "it's too heavy, put it back!" (Which was really odd, as it used to be, "costs too much, put it back!")

Our bags were already bulging with 4-lbs of cheddar cheese, 5-lbs of chuck ground beef, 3-lbs of chicken breasts, 2 packages of turkey bacon, a 5-lb bag of apples, a head of lettuce, a pkg of AAA batteries...er, you get the idea.

It dawned on me that I could save a "ton" on groceries, not to mention save money, and lose a lot of weight if we did all I LITERALLY MEAN ALL of our grocery shopping by foot!

"Hon, Prime Rib is on sale this week for .10 cents a pound! But my heaven's that sucker weighs like 10-lbs! Maybe I'll walk to the store next week?!"

Wrapping things up...

I've decided to forgo the rabies vaccinations. My chances of contracting rabies is a lot higher at HOME than elsewhere. We live after all, in an area that boasts one of the largest bat colonies in the world. Bats are everywhere! Flapping into our windshields, drowning in our swimming pools, found live in our houses! Which means, if I'm not worried about it HERE, why should I worry about it THERE?

Since we're only traveling to north Africa, I wanted to verify if some of these vaccinations were really necessary. According to the website, we have all the important shots. Which means we're skipping the Typhoid -- due of course to the fact that we're only going to be in Cairo, with a small excursion into Sinai. The bulk of our stay is in Israel.

BUT, I may change my mind before we leave... We'll need those shots before we take our other trip.

Check out this website for your travel information.

mdtravelhealth.com

After typing in your destination, they provide information to nearby medical clinics, embassies, food safety, and contact information. Valuable information that I'm transferring to the back of my travel guide!

Amazing Grace!

While studying Middle Eastern history, I was surprised to learn that the bagpipe didn't originate in Scotland. Fascinatingly, the bagpipe originated from the Middle East! Archaeologists speculate the bagpipe immigrated from the Mediterranean to Scotland around 2000 to 3000 BC. So, true to form, as depicted on this amazing video, the bagpipes being played in the Roman Coliseum were actually around!