Bus Misadventures

I've had an interesting two weeks. I've been working sixty plus hours both weeks plus making soap flat-out for my first big show, which is next month. I'm going to put up a post on soapmaking in the next few days, complete with pictures.

Yesterday K and I went to look at a bus. We drove all the way to southern Arkansas. Two of our friends came with us so we would have plenty of drivers for both bus and car if we got. Friday was crazy as we tried to get ready to go up there. The guy who had the bus assured us that it was running and had been driven recently and was in good condition. The only problem was that the brakes needed to be bled. We got there and the bus didn't even have a carb on it. It hadn't been driven in months. And the brakes? They needed replacing, not bleeding. So we came back without a bus.

K is pretty upset. She arranged the whole thing and feels like its her fault, but there was nothing else she could have done. We're back to square one looking for a bus, but we'll get there.

My apologies if this post is a bit incoherent. I just got up. We didn't get in until midnight and I got to sleep in for the first time in weeks. Yay, sleep!

One last thing: I've had to turn on comment moderation due to the sheer amount of spam comments I've been getting on older posts. It should only apply to those posts.

Changes Comin' On

I’ve let this blog linger unattended for far too long. I have had so much to do, and so many things going on, that I just have not been able to get back into the habit of blogging. Over the many months since my last post I have several family crises, written a lot of material I am in the process of publishing, my relationship with my gf has deepened and matured –we intend to get married next month.

There have been other changes as well. This August, should everything go well, we will finally be moving out to our new homestead. It is not in Alabama, but rather in Northeastern Missouri. We have a lot of friends up there, and there are several intentional communities. The land is beautiful and productive. A lot of Mennonites call the area home. I finally have a camera, and when we go up there again I’ll take some pictures and post them.

The next step in our journey is to find an old school bus. Why? We are going to convert it into a temporary home while we build our new house. A full size school bus has around 300 square feet of usable floor space. Not a lot, but better than a tent or most RVs. You can generally find an older school bus in decent shape for under $2000. We are currently searching and hope to find one to buy within the next month or so.

I intend to document this transition step by step on the blog. Buying the bus, converting it, moving to the homestead, and starting up the homestead. I hope to detail all of it (with pictures) on here for everyone to see. I am also going to post about other things, such as my soapmaking, gardening, and the like. If you just found this blog –welcome. If you’re coming back to read it after my long absence, welcome back.