It was a nice but slightly warm day here in northwest Ohio. We didn't do any hard work today. A friend of mine from work brought his daughter and his dad over this morning to go fishing in the pond. They caught 6 fish and left them in the basket we keep attached to the dock. His dad caught some nice sized blue gill and I see there are a few little bass in there as well. They also got to meet Rocky and the little girl just loved him. Rocky has been outside all day and still hasn't come home.I found some old hot dogs in the deli drawer of the fridge. Instead of tossing them out I cut them up into small pieces and used them for bait. I caught four blue gill! It's such fun to catch them; they put up a good fight for their size. We played a rousing game of badminton after dinner and had lots of laughs. Then the boys went for a swim to cool off while I walked around and checked my landscaping plants and watched the hummingbirds. I see I have some oriental lilies with lots of buds on them. I deliberately planted them near windows so their wonderful aroma can waft through the house when they bloom.
Jim's business, Erie Ordnance Depot, earned its first dollar today. We framed it for posterity and he put it on his computer desk. Jim has talent in gunsmithing, especially building "evil black rifles"--AR-15's, AK-47's and such. There is no one in this part of the state that can custom build an AK-47 except Jim. Since this is a free blog site I won't advertise for him anymore than that, but if you want contact information just send me an email. Jim and I are both NRA certified pistol instructors. We teach the class that the state of Ohio requires in order for a person to get a CCW permit.It's our goal to get this business to the point where I might be able to quit my job and stay home to raise more of our own food. We both want to live as independently as possible. This recession has made us both open our eyes and realize that we have been too dependent on others to survive and it's time to take on more responsibility for ourselves. It's the reason I got chickens and plan to get meat rabbits and a dairy goat eventually.
I wish everyone in America would do just one thing to break free from the system. What have you done?
That sure is a nice pond. We would be eating fish a lot more often if we had a pond like that in the back yard. :)
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate break for us will be to go off-grid, although there will be many steps to get there. It will happen though!
What have we done? A whole bunch of stuff, I guess. :)
Ron
Amy: Cool photos! I love your pnd with the dock. I wish we had something like that. We have a small pond in the woods but it's not nearly that size. I like the idea of becoming as independent as possible too! I wish there was a cheaper way to get off the electrical grid. I can't quite justify spending $10,000 for a feasible windmill to save $72 per month.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you/I/we should start a list of things people can easily do to become independent. veg gardens, chickens, co-ops, etc.
As soon as I saw the picture of that pond and dock it made me want to dive in!
ReplyDeleteGood for you trying to become independent. I so agree with you but here in suburbia we don't have much space for it. Plus, we like to travel too much. I do what I can, like make homemade bread and prickly pear jelly, but it's been a long time since I canned anything else. Once we get the rest of our landscaping done in the back we may add a few tomato plants in amoung the flowers. Good luck to you. I wish you well.
Very picturesque pond!
ReplyDeleteThat is great that you can catch fish in your pond. We only catch frogs and crayfish. We'd like to dig another some day that fish will be able to survive in. Sounds like you all had a great day! It is nice to take time just enjoy the simple things in life rather than work, work, work. The rising gas prices and everything that follows have also made us look at life differently and we too want to try and be more independent. Good luck with your business! I will try and write later when I have more time about some changes we have
ReplyDeletedone....off to work :( Kim
Yay for you guys!! I hope everything goes as you all have dreamed about... you're so right to want to "break free" from the crazy way of life most people live!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful pond!!
ReplyDeleteWe moved to our little farm to be able to do more things. Unfortunately, we're not doing as much as we'd hoped due to some health issues, but we're still trying.
Congrats on Jim's first dollar!