I'm a Country Girl!! .

.....kinda! I live "out in the country", not too far (about 3.5 miles) from the nearest small town. Tiny town, quaint, sweet, one stop-light, one bar, 3,000 churches, one very over-priced grocery store, and two "convenience" stores kinda town. I like it, but it's definitely country life. We no longer keep critters here. After 3 winters of dragging my lazy ass out, hauling hot water to thaw out the chickens water and coop, I was DONE. *sigh* but I do miss them. I love me some chickens. The coops now sit empty, except for the wasps who build nest in them now, and the rats I am certain are living under/in them (hubby says it's all in my head..but what ISN'T?). So, while it is country life, it's not really country life. You know what I mean?  We don't farm, we do however cash rent out some of our land to a farmer. Plus, farming supports and feeds this family. We don't farm, but my husband manages a business that serves farmers. He sells the seed and products farmers use, and spreads their fertilizers/chemicals on the fields in big ole equipment. So, while we don't actually farm our land, we (using that term losely as in "Hubby" but I will take credit too) is directly involved in farming.
   The disadvantages of living in the country? A. I am a self imposed hermit most of the time. I may run into town to the local Village Pantry (convenience store) to get a few things, but only when I am desperate, and can't convince hubby to go.   B.  No Internet!! I have to rely on those expensive little cards from our cell phone company and we are too far to pick up the wireless you can get in town. Phone lines are CRAP and so full of static, that it won't hold a connection to get their high speed. So, we have 2 cards. One is mine, and one is The Boys, but Her Majesty will snitch one or the other for her little netbook.    C. WINTER.  It's a huge disadvantage out here. No windbreak to speak of, lots of drifting snow. and...it's freaking COLD!!!!!!!
   The advantages of living here. A. I am a self imposed hermit!  B. Peace and quiet. C. lots of privacy! I can do anything...including standing in the back acre and screaming at the top of my lungs and no one cares....hmmmm, that may also be a disadvantage (think being chased by crazy axe murderers! I do!)   D. Lots of cool wildlife like deers, raccoons, possums, skunks, owls, rabbits, birds of every kind, foxes, coyotes, toads, salamanders, frogs (my nemesis for the season), and various other bugs and critters. E. Hermitage and privacy (it is so worth repeating)

This is the view from my backyard. Corn, corn, corn, and more CORN!..plus a few trees, and yep...that's a burn pit. Lots of nice fun in the evening..but so not green. I know, don't lecture.

View from front yard. Corn, corn, corn, and more corn. a few trees. That's our road. It's basically just a tarry oil that has been covered with gravel.

And this folks, is how we get our television viewing. I call it...Amish TV! If the Amish had TV, or electricity, or the interest to watch TV. I'm cheap with some things and this is one of them.

and this is one of the other things I'm cheap about. Yes, I know it's a "green" thing, but I do it because, it saves on electricity and smells great. It does confuse people who drive by or visit. They ask "Is your dryer broke?" ..Uh..no, we don't have electricity out here. It always makes me wonder why the only reason they think I would hang things out on the line, is because the dryer is broke. *sigh*

And, this is our one and only option for Internet. It's expensive too, and I keep getting REALLY close to running out of MB before the month resets, then it gets even more expensive. I steal The Boys at about that point, but his is close too! Yep, that's a WoW (World of Warcraft..total nerd thing. Yep, I'm queen nerd/geek and proud of it!) thing there. If you don't play, it's an "authenticator", a random number generator that helps to try to prevent account theft. There is actual real life money value to the money and items you have on your WoW characters. Please, don't steal my account...I would throw a tantrum, and cry, and cuss...and need to take more of my little white anxiety pills...and I don't want to do that, because they can make me a zombie. ALTHOUGH...zombies=ultra cool!!

Beauty and the Beast.

Okay, so it's a little beast and not really scary. It's a grasshopper. They don't bite, but they can spit this really nasty brown stuff on you. I always think of them as tobacco chewers and that's what they spit. Nasty, gross, and generally unappealing.

The pictures suck in general. Mostly, because I took the rechargeable battery out of my camera to charge it, and can't remember where I left it. I grabbed up Her Majesty's little Kodak digital. The pictures are not nearly as good as the ones off mine, and I have yet to be able to convince Hubby to get my that SLR Digital Camera of my dreams. Some day......some day.