Now With High Speed Internet!

Yes, yes. We are still here. Alive and well. If not periodically really cold. Yes - cold. The temps in the day are fine (brilliant even) but the night gets cold. As soon as the sun goes down it starts dropping. Not to terribly cold by most standards, but into the single digits Celsius which is in the mid-40's ballpark in Fahrenheit. The problem with this is that we do not have a heater. Or hot water in our house. This makes for a quite chilly time. Chilly (being kind here...) makes me rather grumpy and pouty I have found. I threw quite the tantrum the other night whilst bundled up in a thick bathrobe with a thick warm polar fleece cloak over it and 3 pairs of socks on my feet. Luckily the sun came up the next day and I warmed up for a few hours before I was back to my bundle, clutching a cup of hot tea, dreaming of when (in that nebulous "later" land) we will get a wood burning stove in our house. Until then it is bundle up and cautiously price out electric heaters and weigh benefits of increased electric usage (electric is quite expensive here and our only 'on grid' utility) vs. layers,tea,and tantrums.

Of course there is so much more to report than being cold and whiny at times. So so much more. I realize I have been away from the blog for some time and left you kind of hanging with my last post. Truth is life kind of left us hanging for awhile as well. Our first couple months here on the finca were overshadowed by the stress of an ongoing issue between the landowner and the former (resisting the 'former' aspect) "caretakers" of the property. It was not our concern truthfully but it did mean that we had to live on eggshells trying not to poke the bears as well as in a holding pattern on our own lives and plans until the matter was settled. During that time I felt unable to blog very much. Occasionally I would have a thought to write something, but truth is that it took all my energy to be totally present in every day in order to keep things level headed for myself and my family. Yes, it was really that hard.

But now that time has passed. Things are moving forward. It is still a bit unsure where everything will lead, but there have been meetings scheduled, plans drawn up, and much discussed. The typical sort of things that must happen at the birth of such an undertaking as what we have entered. First order of business for myself, other than continuing to help with the daily operations on the finca, is to develop and launch our web presence. Nothing fancy, but enough so that we can share with everyone about our vision and what we are accomplishing.

There are also over 600 photos for me to sort through and select a reasonable number for uploading. More than likely I will do some retrospective posts as I keep you abreast of the current news and happenings. Maybe even the new picture or two if I feel very inspired. I won't promise much though. With all that there is to do around here getting even half of my intended web work done will be a huge challenge. Today is Thursday. We just got our high (normal-ish) speed internet yesterday. On Saturday we have a group of people coming to help harvest a couple tons of olives that we are having pressed into olive oil at the local olive oil mill. I need to have enough of a start on our materials that people who come can be given a leaflet, directed to a website, and sign up for a mailing list.

Blog? Will I find time to blog??? I'd better get a move on now. Ready - Steady- Go!