Last week, I was sick with influenza. This week, I'm mostly better, though I'm not doing very much writing right now. I can't tell if it's burnout, remnants of flu or something else. I still have another story queued up, but I'm beginning to worry that there will be a gap after Freyja's Fire - don't know yet.
So, last week, we were awaiting a significant snowfall - which definitely hit. 15 inches at the airport, they officially declared a snow day for everyone, only the second time in the three winters I've spent in Wyoming when they actually closed the schools.
Due to being sick, I didn't get outside with the camera this time, but here's a meme I put together last year.
We may have a way to get the lifestyle we desire... soon.
We are low-income and my husband has no credit. So, it's very difficult (read next-to-impossible) to get any sort of mortgage to allow us to move out of our tiny apartment. (We tried Section 8, but they weren't willing to give us hardly any help affording a place to rent.)
Enter USDA Rural Development.
The USDA have a number of loan (mortgage) opportunities for people with low-to-middle incomes. You aren't allowed to buy in the city, but that's fine - I want to be in the countryside anyway.
We will be turning in our application form tomorrow, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for us!
(It's big even for me to share it here because I have a bit of a superstition on this - generally if I announce things, it doesn't work out - so here's hoping that I'm unjinxing it enough to work!)
Assuming this works, I may be faced with the worst soil Wyoming has to throw at us. I'm cramming as much knowledge as I can into my head as quickly as possible so that I will be ready to hit the ground running.
One of the things I'm going to look into (thanks to one of my friends) is the Master Gardener program run through the state universities throughout the USA. They offer classes and workshops at a very reasonable price. In turn you learn how to do the best you can with what you have - something that's going to be essential if I have to work nasty alkali soil (left over from ancient lakes) with a high salt content.
They also offer good prices on windbreak trees - something I expect to have to do almost immediately upon getting onto our own land.
I do plan to document everything I do, so that I can share with you - and you can learn from some of my mistakes.
I was very glad to get back onto my carnivore diet after influenza. I didn't like having to take medicine and things that had sugar, knowing it has such a bad effect on me. I have some new recipes to share in coming weeks which are completely carnivore (i.e. meat and dairy only). I'm going to be trying some other new things as well, looking for cheats that taste excellent, but are very healthy.
I see carnivore as a step to losing the weight that needs to be lost, regaining the health that I lack. When harvest season arrives, I plan to add seasonal produce and nuts back into my diet, to try and follow the cycle of nature a bit better. We'll see how I do.
The first thing I've had to learn is that it's entirely possible to be malnourished and obese! So, I'm having to accept that some weight has to be gained while my body heals. Then the serious weight loss can begin!
Meanwhile, my blood pressure is doing fairly well, though there is still room for improvement.
Photos taken in 2018-2019 with my Pentax K30.
Crossposted at Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
(Buy my work at RedBubble)
verified author on Goodreads
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blogging on: Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu
