Well as you know we have relocated to the great southern wildreness of NJ otherwise known as the Pinelands. We were fortunate to be able to purchase a home with almost 2 acres that backs up to 100s of acres of nothingness. Coming from Edison ( or as my husband warmly refers to it as - the concrete jungle) I am finding living out here a bit different than I was accustomed to . . The first morning we were here Donald announced that we had a dead deer on our lawn - I never saw it because apparently 1.either someone scooped it up for lunch or 2- thetownship employees are highly effective at picking up carcasses here and it was gone before I had a chance to sneeze.
My new neighbor came over on her quad to introduce herself and warn us of the perils of Chiggers
I have learned that chiggers are nasty little microscopic bugs we have an abundance of. Theyt bite and make it look like you have chicken pox. While there is a rumor that they get under your skin and lay eggs- it isnt true. They instead inject some sort of substance into your skin that produces a bit that blisters like chicken pox . I was told that the only things that help the itch are Tenactin or a product called Chigger X. My neighbor also informed me that they have a giant bell they ring sometimes to signal dinner however if we should ever hear it being rung like crazy - it means there is an emergency we should respond to ( hello people? cell phones)
Kids are getting used to it although everytime one of them gets a tick on them ( which here is quite frequent ) they scream as if they are being chased by a wild grizzly. The second day here there was some deer ( alive) in our yard and the kids screamed so loud I think I busted an earrdrum - which of course for those of us who love mornings so is always a great way to awaken
Tyler is having some problems adjusting as he HATES BUGS and keeps letting us know that , but other than the kids are having fun . they love daddy's new very expensive Kubota and we even each got free hats with it ( yes people I did need a pink baseball cap that says KUBOTA across it )
The mailbox is a nice exercise routine for me and I find the long walks to get the mail soothe my frazzled nerves from the kids screaming "TICK ". Luckily I have a very large walk in closet that I can see my self having to organize - quite a bit - especially on rainy days when the kids are bored.
We have a general store that isnt too far away - 5 miles or so , it has bread, milk , eggss,sandwiches and of course bumper stickers that read " I'm a Piney from my head down to my Hiney"
About 3 nights into living here I went out to take my wonderful dog out. At night here you cant see more than a foot in front of you so it was pitch black. We had just walked out when something snorted at me - LOUD . It sounded quite large and was quite close so Diesel and I had a contest to see who could get in faster.- Donald of course thought it was hysterical.
This afternoon I got to meet another neighbor. He stopped by to see if we had a backhoe because apparently his horse died and he needed to " handle the situation" and see if he could borrow a neighbors machinery. I have to admit , I am more used to neighbors stopping by to borrow a hammer or see if we had sugar - so the look on my face must have been priceless.
Anyway, we're working on eliminating boxes and getting unpacked. We're getting there . next projects are the laundry room ( which if it isnt worked on this week by my wonderful husband- I will be hiring a plumber to come do it ) and my office. Since I work from home an office important - it's whats paying for our rural living space Office currently is intact but has no doors or carpet or paint on walls and since I'm used to some comforts, I'd like that done eventually.
