In 2023 I spent six months on the road, experiencing things never before seen, having the absolute time of my life. Top five, I would say, hard to put into words how much that journey meant to me.
Definitely hard to top something like that . . . so . . . I won’t even try in 2025, at least not an adventure like touring the west.
But, funny thing about adventures, they can happen right in your own backyard, so to speak; you just need to know where to look and . . . this is a big and, kind of crucial for the end result . . . you must be willing to actually get off the couch and be a participant.
Damn!
I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions. I think they have a tendency to set us up for failure. Now that’s just me and how my mind works, so pay no never mind to that part of the conversation. However, I do set a basic outline in my brain of what it is I want to accomplish during any given year, so that’s what this particular brain-fart will be about.
I plan on finishing two novels, which are long-overdue. I will self-publish those novels and, like all of my other novels, they will languish in a pit of mediocre sales, but they are part of my legacy and thus, they are important.
By mid-February the alterations to an old chicken coop will be completed, and our farm stand will be ready for action in March.
By the end of February, I will turn on the hose and fill up the pond, which I dug by hand out at the farm, and smile at a job well-done. The hugelkurtur, rising above the pond, will have seedlings sprouting, and although it may fall short of Better Homes and Gardens, it will look good enough for our plans.
March will mean planting, March will mean opening the Farm Stand for business, and March will mean the arrival of 60,000 honey bees for my brand new beehives, a dream I have had for decades finally coming true. If all goes according to plan, which it never does, those two hives will produce over one hundred pounds of honey.
Sweet!
Yes, that was a pun
Spring vacation, April, Bev and I will host a kids’ camp, max of fifteen participants, four days total.
The first group of eggs is in the incubator right now, January 23rd; it takes three weeks for incubation; we will do this for three or four consecutive months, selling about half the chicks, keeping the rest for egg production, adding to the thirty we already have producing.
April will mean more farm stand sales, as will May, as will June, as will July, and winding down in August.
Three summer camps for kids, I think the last week of June, July, and August, but I might be wrong about the date.
Bev is hiking the Washington section of the Pacific Crest Trail from July 15th through August 14th, 550 miles total, so heaven help us all, I will be in charge of all the aforementioned events/chores/mistakes to be made.
I think that might be all. I can’t think of anything else. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. I look to Maggie for help; she yawns, wags her tail, and promptly goes back to her nap. Man’s best friend indeed!
New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t have time for any.
Bill
### I will no longer be asking for Patreon support. I feel too much like a snake oil salesman, asking for financial support. If you are currently supporting me on Patreon, thank you, but feel free to cancel that support. I’m just going to do what I’ve done for fifteen years, namely write for the love of writing.
No matter what you do, I appreciate you taking the time to read this essay/article/blog posting.
