Freakin’ Heroes

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

One of our goats gave birth this week. At like dark-thirty in the morning.

It was her first pregnancy, and, unfortunately, the baby was stillborn. I worked on it for a good ten minutes—rubbing, clearing the lungs, blowing into his mouth and nose—but things didn’t work out.

Sadly, this is how farming works. Animals are unpredictable, and you are told to expect to lose 40% of your stock to illness, predators, and the Unexplained. We cleaned things up and went inside to get our day started.

Two hours later, one of my younger sisters came up to report the goat was down again. I called the vet, thinking milk fever or something similar, and went down with her.

Just in time to save this little character from inside his birth sack.

Look at him.

He’s so tiny and cute.

In all, she had three kids. Two were stillborn, and one is now happily trotting after my sister wherever she goes.

Apparently, according to a neighbor with a herd of goats, this seems to be a year for stillbirths. She’s had more this year than ever before.

Maybe it’s something in the hay?

Anyway, we’re very happy to have at least one prancing around. And our new mother is doing fabulously, which is always a relief.

Oh, and my sister and I are freakin’ heroes.

Which is always fun.

House Update Coming Soon!

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

Until then, here’s our tiny house, lost in the snow.

It’s so cute.

But seriously, look at that sky. Good heavens. Colorado is flexing today, folks, and if it wasn’t freeze-your-eyebrows cold outside, I would be out enjoying it.

Since it IS freeze-your-eyebrows cold, however, I’m going to stick with a hot drink on my couch and a quick heads up for y’all that I have a house update coming! We’re slowly chipping away at our enormous project, and I can’t wait to share the progress with you.

Breaking Ground

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

To celebrate 2022 arriving, I would like to take a moment to stop and appreciate the craziest purchase I made in 2021.

Weird, right?

Don’t worry.

It gets weirder.

Know why? In 2021, my husband and I bought . . . an aircraft hanger.

Are you shocked? Horrified? Intrigued?

So was I.

What happened was this. The day—and I kid you not, the exact day—I packed up my desk and left my full time job to start my own business in March, my husband and I met my sister and her husband at a local sushi restaurant to celebrate my nerve-racking transition into self-employment.

We were going to talk and laugh and eat sushi and pretend I wasn’t terrified about the idea of running my own business and setting my own hours.

Instead, we decided to buy an aircraft hanger.

Decisions get made in sushi restaurants, guys. It happens.

Obviously, my sister and I do not own a plane. I can’t even make a decent paper plane. But . . . we both needed a house. And my dad had a contact in the metal building industry who had an aircraft hanger he’d built for a client. The client had changed his mind, and our contact was now offering us the building . . . for a massive discount. Turns out, with a few minor tweaks, an aircraft hanger makes for a pretty nice house—one that will fit two growing families quite easily.

Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go before the pile of metal struts and beams becomes a house we can live in, but I’m feeling optimistic. The last parts for the metal building have finally been delivered, and a few weeks ago, we broke ground on our property, so we actually have a place to put this house.

When it’s actually built, anyway.

Needless to say, buying a home just as I was transitioning into a business owner has been a huge stretch for me. I like to make my huge life transitions one at a time, thank you very much, and navigating both of these monuments at the same time has been a lesson in faith, especially when it comes to finances.

But I am learning to trust.

So . . . now we own an aircraft hanger.


Do you have any huge milestones in 2021 that you felt stretched you to the limits? Tell me about them in the comments!

Spring and Homesteading

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

Now that I’m freelancing, my schedule is a lot more flexible than it was.

Sure, I’m still working full time. But how—and when—that work happens is up to me.

Which allows for some wiggle room and a bit of discovery.

Discovery is one of my goals for this next season. Discovering more about myself, discovering what life as a freelancer looks like, discovering what I’m capable of, and what I’m brave enough to tackle. Now that spring is—hopefully—here to stay, that includes making our household more sustainable and moving toward homesteading my family’s property.

We have big gardening plans in the works.

I’m excited.

One of the ways my husband and I have made our tiny house a little more sustainable in the last few months has been clearing out the back closet and buying ourselves a real live washing machine. Now that we’re not hauling all our washing next door, laundry duty has become MILES easier, and I’m finally excited to wash my clothes again.

Can I get a ‘Hallelujah’?

Since our space and budget were limited for this project, we decided against buying a dryer with our new washer, and I’ve been line drying all our clothes.

This is my new favorite chore. I kid you not.

Not only does it get me outside, but since my newest obsession is turning our property into a homestead, line drying our clothes adds very positively to the aesthetic. And, you know, it saves us money, helps the environment, and makes our clothes last longer.

But having a line of washing flapping outside my window while I have bread dough rising on the counter gives my tiny house a cozy, farmhouse kind of feel to it, which I deeply appreciate.

I had a few concerns about stiff clothing and stretched out fabric before I started this project, but thanks to the magic of Pinterest and a half-dozen articles from experienced line-dryers, I’ve found clever ways to avoid those problems, and line drying has been a breeze.

Literally.

Homesteading is always a process, and we’re taking projects one at a time to get our little farm up and running again. Our fields have gotten a much needed reseeding, and two sweet bunnies have made an appearance in the barn. The rest will have to wait a bit until we have some sheds fixed up and a few windows replaced in the barn.

Spring is coming!

What are your plans for this spring? Tell me about them in the comments!

Doubling Down

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

I took a couple of days off work this week.

So I could . . . work.

Extra.

Because I party hard, y’all.

See, my husband left on Monday to go hunting with some buddies and I had the house to myself. First time overnight separation since the wedding! Woohooo!

I didn’t like it.

But I did figure I should use the extra time to double down on a project I’ve been doing on the side. You know, when I’m not writing for the radio show or managing this blog or doing any of the other million things I’ve been juggling.

Yeah, I needed a couple of completely obligation free days to get some real, solid work done on it. Before it slipped into obscurity.

So I took Monday and Tuesday off. I haven’t done any serious, focused, non-radio-related writing in a while, to be honest. I’ve done five hundred words here and eight hundred there, but most of my days I get between three and four hundred done after I finish at my nine-to-five and before my husband comes home after his nine-to-five.

Thankfully, my nine-to-five is more of a seven-to-three. So I’ve got a gap. Long story.

But what I really needed was a full, uninterrupted day to get a solid chunk of work done. So at 8 AM, I sat down with a cup of tea, my trusty computer, and a few encouraging notes from my writing ladies, and . . . I wrote.

I was kinda shocked. You know how you usually carve out time to do something and then all your inspiration goes out the window and you could care less about whether you get the thing done or not?

That didn’t happen!

I was expecting it to. Just sitting down was nerve-wracking, because I could just feel the words trying to decide whether to show up or flee and leave me to drown my sorrows in tea. But I actually buckled down and—get this—very nearly doubled the size of my project.

Yeah.

I mean, I was pretty close to the beginning still, but four thousand words in one day is nothing to sneeze at. I was pretty excited. I felt like a word ninja. It was awesome.

Then the next day I tried again, and the empty page mocked me and I gave up and had to make dumplings instead, because apparently you can only have one really good writing day at a time. C’est la vie.

What are you working on at the moment? Any special projects? Tell me about them in the comments!

“Then the cold nights crept in…”

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

“… and all the colors of fall faded with the frost.”

Time to admit the truth.

Fall is fading fast, and winter is just about here.

I can tell because I’m freezing 90% of the time instead of just 50%.

I’m usually cold. My husband will tell you that. But in the winter, I’m almost always cold.

Thankfully, my amazing husband has helped build up the woodpile for this year, and our wood burning stove is up and running. Our little house is getting ready for all the cold weather, and that includes taking care of the wildlife around our home too. The deer have a new salt block, and I’m starting to remember to put out corn for them too.

Not that I’ve actually seen them eating it.

The bluejays get most of it. And the squirrels.

It is amazing how much corn ten bluejays can eat. Where do they put it all? Their tiny bodies can’t fit that much, yet they never leave the bowl alone until all the corn is gone.

Maybe there are more of them than I think.

I’ve got birdseed out too, in case you’re wondering if they’re starving. So, so much wild birdseed. This has attracted literally everything from magpies—which are MUCH larger than I realized—to chickadees, and I’m loving the variety I see gathered on my porch every morning.

My cat is also loving the variety.

She sits by the window, making funny chirpy noises and waiting for me to let her out so she can eat all the tasty birds flying around.

I do not let her out.

Or if I do, I make sure she doesn’t get anything.

She has yet to catch one.

But I let her dream. It keeps her occupied.

How are you preparing for the winter? Any sweet visitors outside your doors now that the cold weather is moving in? Tell me about them in the comments!

Finding A New Normal

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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I’m working exclusively from home these days.

I think most of us are, right? Those who can anyway. I’m so, so grateful to have a job that transferred to my house as easily and smoothly as mine did, and that continued to supply the same amount of hours that I’d been working before. Still, the transition has been a little strange, and I am still getting used to my new routine and the changes it’s brought into my life.

For one thing, I dropped the eight-to-five-with-a-lunch-hour routine and now start my workday at six AM on the dot. My best writing time is always in the early morning anyway, and this new schedule leaves me with an afternoon that’s free and clear.

I’ve planted a lot of seeds.

And found a lot more time for my own writing projects.

Mostly though, I’ve been learning to balance things again. To find the routine and the rhythm that gets me into work in the morning and out of it when I finish up in the afternoon. See, before, I had my commute to rely on for that. An hour’s drive with an audiobook or with my dad for company went by much quicker than you’d think, and by the time I reached home, I was ready to be home instead of still having my head stuffed with work.

Now, I finish work on one computer and immediately feel like I should be picking up the second one to ‘get on with it’.

Except that’s not realistic.

Neither is starting work five minutes after I’ve dragged myself out of bed, which is also tempting.

So, I’ve been making habits. Habits with alarms in the morning, workouts in my tiny living room, showers and a change of clothes after work is done, time in the sun, and time with people I love. The little things make all the difference right now, and I’ve been seeking out the things that keep me sane—sunshine, fresh air, new growth, and space to breathe.

Basically, I’m building a new normal. Something sustainable, until the world starts up again and life outside our homes can continue on safely. I hope you all are doing the same!

What are you doing to keep yourself sane in your ‘new normal’? Tell me about it in the comments!

Spring Is Late

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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Not really.

It’s not late.

It’s only March, and March still feels like an arctic tundra in Colorado. I’m ready for warm temperatures and days that are not windy and freezing. We’ve had a couple. One or two. I even worked outside on my porch one evening. With my jacket. For about fifteen, twenty minutes. Then I got cold and went inside.

I’m ready for spring, basically. I’ve been on walks and hikes and tried to spend as much time outdoors as possible.

It hasn’t worked out for me.

I’ve frozen a couple of times.

I keep hoping it’ll somehow magically be warm when I step outside, and somehow, it never is.

My editor is sending me pictures of her gorgeous warm weather in Missouri. The trees have leaves, everything is green, and the river looks like heaven.

I’m so jealous.

Since I’m working from home for the next few weeks, it would be the absolute perfect time for warmer weather. I could work outside on my porch, get some actual sunshine, maybe get a tan. I can hope, right?

Maybe if I plant enough of my garden for this year, it’ll get warm. I’ve been adding to the collection of sprouts growing on my kitchen counter. I have peppers, three kinds of squash, and turnips growing there now. And some flowers. And a few other things that I’ve forgotten. Peas maybe? Basically, I’m just going to wait until everything pops up and figure out what I have then.

I’m going to have a fun garden.

Hopefully.

Most of it will be in pots, however. I’m going to do a container garden. So I can bring it in and out of my house and keep it safe from deer, grasshoppers, too much sun, frost, freak snowstorms . . .

Basically, Colorado.

Colorado kills gardens. Even in the spring.

Which, by the way?

Hasn’t arrived yet.

It’s late.

Are you ready for spring yet? Anything poking up where you live? Tell me about it in the comments!

Snow Days

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

I’m snowed in.

Again.

Can you tell? This is the view out my front door. By the way, can you spot the deer in this picture? There’s a big old buck sleeping under the trees behind my swing there. You can just make him out if you squint.

Poor thing.

We’ll see if I get to work today. We have about five or six inches of heavy, wet snow, so it’s going to be a toss-up. Maybe my dad and I will risk it. Maybe we won’t. Who knows? Not me.

Is anyone else sick of snow?

Like, I love snow. I love Colorado. I love the wintertime. There’s nothing better than the feeling of watching snow fall next to my wood stove with a cup of tea and a book to read (or to write).

But enough is enough.

Seriously.

My driveway looks like a war zone. First ice, then way too much snow, then mud when it melted, then more ice, then more snow—you get the idea. It may never be the same. I mean, it was a dirt track in the first place. Now it’s a mud slide.

Plus, I have already gotten stuck—like, really, really stuck—once this year, been late to a meeting that was centered around my presentation (boy, that was fun), and had more snow in my boots than I ever care to think about.

It’s cold in Colorado.

Unfortunately, there is no end in sight. We’re at the beginning of March and snow doesn’t usually stop for another two months. Last year we had a major three day blizzard in May, so I’m hunkering down for a long wait.

So, since the snow is pretty deep, I’ll probably end up working from home today. Since I brought my computer home on Friday, that’s fortunately an option, and I’ll go back to my days as a homeschooled child, sit around the kitchen table at the Big House with some of my younger siblings, and work while they do their math. Maybe I can convince my mom and my sister to join us while they do their artwork, and we’ll have a school/work party with hot chocolate while it snows, and I won’t have to brave the rough roads and try to figure out how to get through the drifts in my short boots.

That is, if I can actually get out of my house and down the path to the Big House. That snow looks pretty deep.

What is your favorite way to spend a snow day? Tell me about it in the comments!

Small Improvements

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

img_3194I’ve been working on my house lately. Improving it. Fixing things.

Specifically my kitchen.

Because it’s old, and a little bit of a mess.

It needed some TLC.

So, I ripped out the old faucet, the one that leaked and was also determined only to have as much water pressure as it absolutely had to, and replaced it with a shiny new one. I can actually fill up a jug now. Or water my plants. Then, I fixed a few broken and loose tiles on the pad for my woodstove and started tiling the backdrop behind my stove. Because I was getting a little tired of grease-stained paint.

Ew.

These kinds of projects are completely new to me, and I have been figuring them out for myself—with a little encouragement from my sister and roommate. Two years ago, I would have looked at projects like these and said, “Nope. Sorry. I can’t do that. I don’t know how.”

Isn’t it funny how often I don’t know how becomes all-consuming? How quickly I can’t becomes the answer to . . . just about anything? I never realized how many walls I put up around my abilities by saying I can’t.

I couldn’t fix the problems in my house.

I couldn’t speak in public.

I couldn’t run a half-marathon.

I didn’t know how.

The last eight months have been a kind of releasing for me. I can’t has become I’ll try, and I don’t know how has become I’ll give it a shot. On Friday, I decided to see just how far I could really run and ended up with my first half-marathon under my belt. The week before, I participated in a week-long writer’s meeting and spent a whole day pitching my ideas to the group and talking about why I liked each one or thought it was important. Since starting my job, I’ve said yes to being videoed, recorded, critiqued, mentored, and even to semi-public speaking. 

Now I’m tiling my backdrop and planning for the spring, when I will be building an addition onto my home. (Because every writer needs a library.)

Suffice to say, I’ve gotten sick of the edges of my comfort zone acting as a fence. My efforts may not be completely perfect, but I can’t hasn’t factored into any of them.

I’d count that as an improvement.

What are some things that you have been doing outside your comfort zone lately? Tell me about them in the comments!