The Peacher Man

Remember Pastor Mike? The one that had taught me how to make soap? Husband asked him if he would do our wedding ceremony, unfortunately Pastor Mike says he is only a preacher man, he doesn't do weddings. Then he offered up the youth pastor at his church, Pastor Mark.

We asked Mike a month ago, and just got Mark's card 1 week ago. I called on Monday and set up an appointment. I was a little worried, with only 2 weeks left before the big to do, and it being Halloween and all I was concerned he wouldn't do it. We have a ordained biker lined up if that was the case.

Last night Husband and I met with Pastor Mark. He set up a movie for the boys to watch as we went to his office to talk. He asked us some questioned, gleaning a bit of info about us. Then talked about the wedding. He reiterated over and over that it was about us, not about family or guests. Which I know he was trying to make us feel better about a few things going on with our lives, and I appreciate that.

Pastor Mark seemed excited about the whole thing. He told us several times that he has only done very formal church weddings, never something so informal. He told us that normally he reads a long passage from the bible about how the husband should treat the wife, but he says it seems like he is always lecturing people and would forgo that little speech. I told him he should give the speech to husband anyway. Husband said that the fact that we have been together longer than most people meant he was doing something right.

We had to explain homesteading to him. He had not heard that term and wanted to put us in the naturalist green group. I explained that we were salt not green and the differences. Husband explained we were not survivalists or hippies (that cracked him up. Just looking at us you could tell he said) Pastor Mark was raised Mennonite, so he seemed to understand what a homesteader was.

Pastor Mike forgot to tell Mark that this was a masquerade ball. I tensed a bit because I thought he had that info. But Pastor Mark suddenly announce he would dress up like a hooker! That got husband rolling. I suggested Beetlejuice.




Pastor Mark waved the hooker suggestion off, claiming he was jesting, but he would dress up in costume after all. That is much more than I had hoped for. Preacher man is going in costume.

I was impressed with Pastor Mark, he seems to be truly looking forward to the wedding. He loves the informality of it, the traditional (old old school) Irish part of it. He says he will keep it short and fun, as what seems to be called for.

I am so relieved.

I have also planned a very traditional breaking of bread before dinner. He seemed to have never heard this being done before. He is right, it isn't an American tradition but many cultures do it. He seemed interested in it and has agreed to participate in it. My wedding might not be a glamorous white American wedding, but it is close to what I would call my dream wedding.

General Wedding Update

Talk about a little stressed out! 2 weeks until the big day and my corset doesn't fit. Apparently Japanese sizes run a whole lot smaller than American sizes, go figure, huh? so here's the plan. I will wear pasties and go as a murdered stripper. That will work. Or throw on a blouse and go as a clubbing cowgirl. I think the first choice will be a crowd pleaser though. Or I can try and find a decent looking cheap corset at a local porn store. Maybe pick up a maid of honor gift while there. ha!

I went and got my boots that I liked. Something I can wear on the bike as well. Which I did the other day. and melted a bit of the boots sole. I was not happy with husband, as he was giggling about it. It isn't so bad as to be real noticeable, nor mess with my walking. But the point is, it happened. Husband says there is a hot spot were my boot had been pushed up against that heats his leg up as well. He plans on putting on a small heat shield over that spot. Speaking of riding, we had gone out on Friday morning. My car was in the shop and ready to be picked up. As we were riding, the clutch cable broke. There was little trouble riding on the highway with it, but as soon as we had to get onto the main roads we had to slam into gears. That hurt. I held onto the sissy bar, yanking my shoulder out of it's socket. But as we had gone over one of the over passes, I saw a car flipped on it's side. A little slamming around isn't as bad as what happened to those poor people.

I ordered smaller plastic versions of Husband and I's wedding goblets for the wedding party, as well as some dessert plates, napkins and plastic Halloween cups. They were out of matching dinner plates, so I am on the hunt for something today, as well as plastic tableware. We are eating outside, I really don't want anything fancy and I don't have enough silverware for the party.

Medium changed his mind about what he wanted to be, so had to pick up some glue on devil horns for him. Picked up some wound makeup for my costume, and looked about for body parts and other things that I might pick up the day before the wedding as everything will be cheaper at that time.

I have yet to hear back from the woman that said she would make my cloak and am real nervous about that.

I finally got the number of the youth minister and will call him Monday. If he can't do it, Hooter has a biker Preacher that will do it for $50. Maybe he has an interesting road name as well.

Will the Real Phelan Please Log In?

I am back, with a new mouse {thank you Marina} and new keyboard {thank you mother} and bills paid. I should remain for awhile yet.

Where to begin. . . from the beginning you say? Ok, order of events that you missed.

My littlest brother got married! It was an outside wedding. Very pleasant though hot for October. My three boys were in it, and my other younger brother came out to be best man.

I decided to go all Princess Lea {is that spelled right?} And curl my hair. This lasted for 10 minutes before the weight of my hair dragged those Shirley Temple curls down. {The other day I cut 1' of my hair off and it still hangs past my shoulders}

We got are boys dressed. Aren't they darling? I feared they would some how manage to get covered in mud in the truck. Hey it happens.

Lota of photos....


Then the walk. My oldest was hidden behind a pillar so I was unable to get photos of him standing up there with his uncles.

With the vows said

It was time to party.

The Park people neglected to turn the bathroom lights on, and no switch was found. I swear, if people just happen to overhear my mother and I one would think we were very drunk, all the time. We walked into the bathroom with my husbands LED penlight, holding it over the stall door for one another, being belligerently sober.

It was a great wedding for my brother.

You'll Never Guess what I've been doing

Pulling nails out of reclaimed 2x4's.

I know exciting. well I did manage to draw blood as a whacked myself in the face with the pry bar. That was fun.

Oh, and trying to put a wedding together in a month.

Oct 31st 2010 is our wedding day. Husband (or should I say soon-to-be Husband again) decided to give me a bit o' fun and make it a little more than a month away.

Halloween? Yes Halloween. We have a soft spot for that holiday. We have been together for 14 years, and have spent almost 10 years on the Neophyte Homestead which we signed the papers for and moved into on Halloween.

And since Husband says wedding are no more than production plays, I thought I would give him a good one, and it will be a masquerade ball. All on a budget of $1.25. No really, I have to put it together with no money. And so far so good. Since we don't need anything, no presents are required, however doing this seems to encourage people to offer wedding help. Only thing I need to buy so far is Halloween make up and fx makeup, cloth for my dress and contact lenses for husband.

Husband has been ornery these past few days. I think he is happy about it, but still feels the need to make me work for it. The brat.


I have to go to the farm this morning, Undies keeps slipping out of the fence, and no one is sure how. Luckily it isn't all of them, and he stays close. And the remnant of Hermine will be here sometime today. I have been getting flood warnings for the past 2 days. So early out, hopefully. I don't want to be caught in floods at the farm. But will bring a couple books just in case.

The Neophyte Wedding ~Word Addition/ Part 2

"Chicken and gasoline!"



I was standing by the back porch when I heard my little brother start the show. I think he called Moses Dr. Satan.

(Stole some of these following pictures off of Facebook from others)



Husband went as Charles Manson.

We headed out. Hooter ushered the Mothers to their spot in the circle. Except he took them around the outside of the circle, and not through. And that the circle was not a circle, looked more like a bunch of grown ups gearing up for a game of red rover. My stepfather dressed as the mad hatter, escorted me to my waiting Husband. Husband was all grins, which in turn made me smile. I looked around.

How wonderful that so many people showed up, and dressed up! Hannibal even brought a snack



"Let the congregation be standing." Pastor Mark at least got giggles from Husband and I. The ceremony was wonderful. I hope to get a copy of all Pastor Mark said. He had 5 commandments for us, he had ten "But left the other tablet in the truck." Pastor Mark did his research on Samhain, and all Saint's day. He said we were there for American tradition, Christian tradition, and Scottish. . . . I looked at husband, he's the Scotch. I hear someone behind me, better watch it preacher man, and "Them fightin' words" from another. Pastor Mark smiled, he was being silly. My mother ran around taking photos. Husband say he thought she was heckling . All I heard was Amen's and yes God. But I turned just about everything but Husband and Pastor Mark off. At one point Pastor Mark seemed to be having a problem flipping the pages of his speech, "Tablets stick sometimes" he smiled.

He said we were very unique people. and that most people would think Halloween was a bad choice for a wedding. But as he listed the wonderful things that happen and what is meant by Samhain, he said that in reality, it was a perfect day for a wedding.

Husband grinned like the Cheshire cat through the entire thing. The wind however decided to blow our hair into our faces.

We said our vows.



And had our kiss.



Our friend Jerry taped the entire affair. And Husband threw candy money to the guests.

"Lets get some Mudder Fuuudgin' Chicken!" Captain Spaulding announced (you have to have seen the movie to appreciate it).

The lamb and turkey took it's sweet time being carved and brought out. The rest of the food had gone cold by the time it arrived. The soups were warm though, we had them over the campfire. The Red onion soup was gone quickly. Everyone seemed to have high praise for it.

While waiting for the meats, The Best man poured our wine and we toasted. Then We cut our cake, with a machete.



The wine wasn't too awful. A little spicy, and not as sweet as Husband would have liked.

Hooter caught the garter (which was a she-ninja garter, black with a rose handled knife) and My Bride's maid caught the single white rose that my maid of Honor bound (like my hair) in red twine.

Finally the food arrived, and we ate. That was about all there was to the reception. Most people worked the next day, and none of the two bands that said they were going to play, showed. Little Brian and Confused stayed the longest. We drank mulled hot spiced cider, and hung out around the fire laughing. Telling stories and the such. It was a pleasant evening. The wind was too much to keep the jack o' lanterns aglow however.



And that, it so many words,, was The Neophyte Wedding.

~I realize now that I have a lot of friends with odd names ~

The Neophyte Wedding ~ Word Addition/part 1

Due to some technical difficulties, I have yet to get all the photos from the wedding. I do have a few from my camera, so we will work with those as I tell you want went down.

Husband was nervous. Even Captain Spaulding pointed it out to me later. Husband was yelling at everyone, this is odd for him as he never raises his voice. He even yelled at Large for the car not having gas. Large is 13, it wasn't his fault. Large was confused, but was able to laugh it off later. So Sunday morning was a little rough and tense. To be honest, I am not sure why. We have been together 14 years, and married for 7. I guess the display of it was an issue, not sure what was going on in his head.

My Maid of Honor arrived with my brother (captain Spaulding) Late Friday Evening. Bringing the bouquet she made for me.

That's when things really started. We butchered the lamb and the turkey without a problem, while Large went to a Library teen Halloween party. I started on some cooking and some last minute house scrub down. I asked Husband to stop and get the table and chairs as well as apples from Brain Wheel. Alas! He didn't. He showed up at home after work on Saturday without any of the much needed items. Sunday became crunch time as we had but a few hours to get everything finished up, as well as do all our regular chores.

Saturday also meant pumpkin carving for us all.





Later that evening one of Husband's client's arrived with another 16 jack o' lanterns. It was our wedding gift. So many more than I thought he would bring us.




My brother and future s-i-l ran around purchasing last minute items. While Husband yelled at everyone and the chickens, and I cooked up a frenzy.

Butternut Squash Soup



The neighbor across the way's son arrived. He was smoking the turkey and lamb for us as our wedding gift. We had picked up some pecan wood from Brain Wheel just for this. As he smoked, we cooked and decorated.



Skippymom had sent a box of goody bags for the kids. This was all that was left in the morning.



Hooter arrived a little after 3pm.



Brain Wheel, who was also going to be an usher, couldn't make it. One of his injuries from that bike vs car accident isn't healing properly (yes 2 years later) and is on forced bed rest. He can not be in his chair for more than 15 minutes at a time. He and his wife were going to come as Ozzy and Sharon.

I instructed Hooter on how things were going to go. I told him how to get people to park and showed him were the circle for the ceremony was to be. He took it all in as anyone named Hooter would do such a thing, as we shall find out later. Meanwhile I took a shower.

My mother arrived and it was time for me to start getting ready. Suddenly my house was full of people! Wait! NO! everyone should be outside so I could get ready. Hooter took Husband out to get his make-up done, so there was no one to usher these people. I think I saw my wedding cake zoom by at one point. Too much chaos was happening, and I was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. My bride's maid arrived with everyone else, and I had little time to say much to her.



Husband's mother says take a good look because you will never see her dress like this again!



I almost forgot, right after Hooter, Foxfire arrived. She is someone I have known for a year and have never met. We play an online RPG together. She drove 5 hours to be here. Dressed as a pirate. Her foster daughter was Snow White. They brought Husband and I a treasure chest with goblets, wine, cow patties and chocolate covered potato chips!



The only regret I have for this night was that I didn't get to spend more time with her and Rat, who I haven't seen in 8 years. She (Rat) is the reason Husband and I are together.

I digress, things were getting a bit too busy for me, and I needed to get ready. I managed to slip away with my mother to get my hair done and my make-up. Wouldn't you believe it, that not I, nor my mother or s-i-l own a hair curler. That threw a loop into the plans. Instead I opted for a more traditional braid look (7 braids). We put demi-dye Chrome in my hair. I glued my slit throat on, and mother started my makeup. She did it a bit lighter this time, more heron sheik than zombie bash.

I hear Husband yelling down the hall at me. His best man finally arrived. It was already after 5pm, he should have arrived around 3pm. I headed out to great him. He and his wife are dressed as Bonnie and Clyde. They looked great! I had to ask where his guitar was. And he looked at me with a blank expression. He forgot all about playing me down the aisle! My head started to hurt. Rarely do we do big events. Rarely do husband and I call ourselves out to be special. So I am not sure what the proper thing to do here. Suddenly the best man asks, "do you have any instruments here?" I happened to have a 20 year old Yamaha key board. He picked Chopin, rather than the Mozart I wanted, but at this point I was no longer picky. He learned to play Funeral March in 5 minutes just by listening to it here

With the Best Man practicing, I was back in the bathroom. Time for the corset. My mother was having a heck of a time lacing it up. "Who did this for you last time?" husband "well he is a better woman then I." I couldn't stop laughing. After a few fumbling minutes I hear my Maid of Honor in the hall. I called out for her to come in.

Do you remember me mentioning that I asked my Maid of honor to dress like Xena?

(she hates this pic, will get one that doesn't look so ticked off at me to post later)

Well she took it a bit too seriously. I am busy sucking it in, holding my breath, waiting for this corset to cinch up when I hear "The door won't open." And "which way, in or out?" and crack, and then turning to see Xena tearing the bathroom door off it's hinges! She opened it the wrong direction. I told her she had to tell husband, because I wasn't going to. She would later, and husband would laugh. I however needed to be tortured a bit into my costume. Then a bit o' blood from my cut throat, and keeping it off my corset and I was good. The preacher was still a no show. As I did my best back bend (a fx blood thing) Husband is standing in the hall out of sight. "Pastor Mark called, he is running late but will be here in time for the ceremony"

Do you laugh here? I mean that was a joke right? There is no ceremony until the preacher man arrives.

Honestly, things got a bit hectic and blurry for a bit. Too much happening, too many people in my house wanting my attention. Suddenly Pastor Mark is in my living room, and I am yelling at Hooter to freakin' usher!

Wedding Update

I think I will make Sundays wedding update day.

I didn't win the dress. But not too concerned, It would have been nice, yes, but I won a bid on this gorgeous gypsy skirt that will go perfectly as a shieldbride outfit.


I have a friend willing to make the cloak I showed you for the price of material. (her wedding gift to me) She has also offered us some henna tats for the occasion. My maid of honor is thrilled about that. She has never had it done before.

We have a band. A friend of ours. We have known the guys in the band 14+ years, depending on if it was me or Husband that knew them from school or from meeting them through each other.

Hooter, he is our usher rather than our preacher, proclaims h is dressing up like a woman but refuses to shave. I tried to talk him into waxing his legs, but he wouldn't do it.

I also have a new Bride's maid, my niece in law. We also have several people carving Jack o' lantern's for the big day. I want lots of them, rather then just the plain candle motif. Scary ones, pretty ones, all of them.

I bought Husband a ring as well. He can't wear rings for work, so I wasn't too worried about it having to be super duper special. I got him a stainless steel black ring with white Celtic knots. Made in Ireland, sold to be by a man named Liam.

And I think I have the menu done.

Wedding Menu and recipes

By now you have all figured out I love, no LOVE to cook. I like creating new recipes, combining odd ingredients, and sharing it with you all.

The wedding menu is all planned out. But am curious, would you guys like the menu and recipes now or wait until after the wedding and I have pictures.

I might do it next week if you want me to or not, it gives me something to blog about at least. (and no comments about it's my blog. I know it is, yet I am still asking)

Wedding update

What you have bought me;

I won a bid on a corsetwhich will be dyed a light blue. oh and a small bottle of metallic silver demi hair dye.

I am hoping to win this cloak. But my hopes aren't too high, as some of the cloaks are going very high. Although some stay a good low price.


The reason I want a cloak? Well I don't think I am getting the dress. And the dresses I am finding are way too expensive. I will probably dye a white broom skirt to go with the corset. See my mother and I had a big blow out. And I mean big. She insulted husband and I to the point that it will be very difficult to forgive her. And the woman that was going to make my dress is a friend of my mother's. So. . . I guess I am on my own.

~sigh~ If only I could sew.

My brother's girlfriend made the invites. She included a poem from Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. I love it!

We have a band for the wedding as well. When Husband asked his friend to the best man, not only did he agree but volunteered the band. Which is fine with us, because the band was being invited any how, we have known them all for 14 or more years.

Looks like we have a youth pastor from a local evangelic church that is all about Halloween. We had asked a client of husband's to do it, but he only preaches he says. And then he offered up the youth pastor. Hope the guy knows what he is in for. I wanted a preacher to make it more legit in the eyes of husband's family. Otherwise we were going to either have my brother or Hooter do it as we already have the paperwork signed. I know, my wedding, shouldn't have to make others happy, but this is something I want.

3 days in 1

Today is Husband and I's Wedding Anniversary. (Part 1/ Part 2)



(Before anyone gets all upset, there was a serial killer theme running through the grooms side. Husband was Manson, best man was Clyde of Bonny and Clyde, my brother was Capt Spalding, and a few other mass murders showed up as well)

We have been together 15 years, married 8, actual wedding marriage 1 year.

Today is our 10 year Anniversary here on the Neophyte Homestead

We signed the papers to take it over in the morning, and moved in that afternoon just in time to go trick or treating.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

The boys costumes this year.


Small's should be easy to guess. Only action geeks will be able to guess who Medium is. And Large, history war buffs might be able to decipher (or those that actually grew up with them).

Don't you love, how I break

With the time change, and it not getting dark until after 9pm, we have been having some late nights. We aren't eating dinner until 10pm some nights. Wake before dawn, sleep after sunset, I think I am now tired.

It is one of those "work! There is still day light" things. We don't wear watches, bad things can happen if you get caught in something, and the strap decides not to break. Kind of like my husband doesn't wear a wedding band. This upsets many people, but we explain that wedding bands can mean a loss of a finger in his line of work. And he is always working, the only time he would wear it would be to eat or sleep. I however do where mine because I don't go digging around in machinery.

We use to live in Hutch (Hutchinson in non Kansas speak) and we had a friend up there that was an EMT. Prior to that he worked on cars and other machines. He had lost and reattached more fingers than he had. Rebuilding a cars transmission can be a problem for those little digits. I always worried about my husband, he came close one time, when a transmission slipped, he had to have a few stitches, but never lost a finger. He has many open wounds on his hands from working on motorcycles and tractors. Washing them in solvent hurts a bit.

My injuries have been less, I have been shocked by things, dislocated both my shoulders, tore tendons in said shoulders, some cuts that probably needed stitches, chemicals in face, and lots of severely sprained ankles. I have actually done more damage to myself as a child then as an adult. Learned from my mistakes I guess. Because I haven't broken any bones since my youth.

Moving to the farmstead causes even more challenges when it comes to injuries. Larger machines, and 2 hours for EMS to arrive kind of puts the fright into you. A boy down the road from the farmstead saved his grandfather's life by placing a tourniquet on the stub that was once his grandfather arm. He had got caught in a swather. Losing a limb seems to be common practice in the sticks, sorry boonies, we were informed our farm is in the sticks. We have to be very vigilant and never get complacent out there. even here, a farmer has lost his life due to farm equipment.

And I have no idea how I even got on this subject. How I write posts is find a title, most the time it is a lyric to a song I heard the previous day, then start writing about something. Today I just kind of went in a different direction than I thought I would. One things leads to another I guess.

t'was a long weekend

I am grateful that our friends do not get married very often. The couple that got married in Sparks America decided to have a wedding reception for those that couldn't make it to the wedding. Of course we were invited. We headed into the city on Saturday night, ended up going to 3 different bike bars, each smaller than the last, until we ended up at the tiniest building possible with an incredible blues band and the bride's mother getting into a fist fight. Then grocery shopping at 230 in the morning, breakfast at 500am, my husband and I trying to crash on a twin size bed, then making are way home at 930 am. I am still paying for it. If you are interested in yet another aspect to my life, go check out what The Fool has posted.

The meteorologist say, rain rain is going away. yet at 6am this morning it was raining. My tomatoes are not thrilled about all of this water. If they could get a couple days of dry and sun, I will be dealing with more ripe tomatoes than I can handle alone. I have hired my 13 year old niece as a garden hand. She will be learning to care for a garden, help harvest and process items for canning. Hopefully she will catch on quickly and things will move smoothly along.

I found another bunch of grapes emerging on my vines.

And a hen came back! All I had left was my geese and a couple of roosters. The other day I saw one of my hens. I was thrilled, still am. Maybe another will follow suite. If someone does have them confined, I might have some hope on getting a few back. Yet I am not going to keep my hopes on it, maybe she was just in hiding.

This wedding will make it on the list of the world's tackiest

But don't care. I am having a ball planning it! It's amazing what you can do on a super tight budget and good people.

Because of some of you good people, I will keep you updated on what your wonderful gift has gone toward.

I just received Husband and I's wine glasses.


I think they are too cute. Husband grinned. For the price I was kind of expecting plastic junk, but it is real glass and has some heft to it. I bought them from Moon Costumes.

I also purchased my fx make-up through another company. But if you don't mind, that's going to be a surprise for the wedding day.

I have been going over and over the menu. And as long as I have some help in the kitchen, I can get a wonderful harvest fest together with little problems. Traditionally lamb is a spring food, but as our sheep give birth twice a year, I think there is an exception on that rule.

We also decided to make lots of jack o' lanterns for our mood candle lighting.

Thank you again for the wonderful gifts!

It's 2 am

Do you all remember our squatter/farm hand? He was over the other day. He hasn't sobered up much, but has to the extent that he is actually remembering and keeping promises. So we are allowing him back around. Even invited him to the wedding which he is excited about.

I digress, we were outside talking the other day and I mentioned that the woman that was going to make my cloak bagged on me. Less than a week left and wasn't sure what I was going to do. He told me that is mother could whip one out, besides she needed something to do. So on Monday I gave him the velvet and the pattern for the cloak. I got it back today. Hear that Kelle? I got my cloak!

My brother and his girlfriend arrived earlier this evening. They are crashed out in their tent right now.

I'm watching Rocky Horror.

We butchered the lamb and turkey this evening. A bunch of people showed up when they heard we were doing it. It's odd that so many people show up here every time we butcher. This time the only thing I had to do was clean the turkey. The men killed every thing and cleaned the lamb. My little brother killed the turkey. It was his first time killing anything on purpose. He got blood all over himself. I don't think we were that messy the first time. Hold on, it wasn't that messy, I recorded it all here on the blog.

I picked up the wine. Had to make a compromise with it. Husband is a sugar junkie. Like things super sweet. I don't. I like mine dry with a hint of sweetness. I found a wine that has chocolate, warm spices and black cherries. I thought that would go well with the fall foods, and be a happy medium between Husband and I's tastes.

Saturday (today or after I wake up) I will hit the farmers market. Need to pick up some things for the wedding that I don't have here.

Babes in the woods

There is something screaming in the hills, and it's not us.

Not any bird we have heard, not a hurt rabbit, nor bobcat. We have no idea what it is. It almost sounds like a howler monkey, but higher. Scares the bejeebers out of the dogs.

Things are slow, but are starting to come together.

The boys are loving the salamanders. So many colors to choose from. Husband caught me an orange one with blue spots. The boys seem to be good at catching the blue tailed ones. Medium brought one in to show me. And it jumped from between his fingers, landing on the floor and scurrying under the puppy. Husband kept rolling her while the boys attempted to catch the salamander. Poor puppy was confused, everyone staring at her, then rolling her over and over, squeals of laughter near her ears. Finally the critter was caught and brought back outside. Medium and Small have now decided to save up their money for an aquarium. 

Large is growing up to be a fine young man, despite the fact he is a lot like me. He has developed a work ethic that is shinning here in the holler. His blue and green hair, riding boots, gothic shirts and torn jeans garners a bit of attention. He has been working so hard, helping us make this place a home. I am proud and thankful.

Husband is in a lot of pain though. He hurt his back before we set out. Same place from the wreck. It makes working down here difficult. Of course none of the boys will allow me to do much real work. Everyone says I need to calm down and not try to do things that could hurt my leg. It's frustrating. So many things I could be doing, if only allowed. I am trying to do little things to keep me busy. But watching husband hurt, makes it hard on me. I want to make him stop and allow me to take over. Large has been helpful in this regard. 

Here's something we saw in one of the towns.

Medium took the picture.

I have gotten to know one side of the Ridge. Now I get to drive around the other side, getting lost and calling Small Farm Girl for help. I have a feeling I might be able to get lost enough that she won't even know where I am. 

Ironweed, jewel weed and golden rod is in full bloom here. Come morning I will be headed out into my yard to start harvesting said plants. I plan on some balm with the jewel weed, cooking with the ironweed, and syrups and powders with the golden rod. Chestnuts have began to open as well. I bought some more blue jars this morning. One guy wanted $7 a jar. Because they had the lids. But I found the gentleman I bought the last case from, and bought more at that $2 a piece price, with the lids. Also picked up some small tins and tonic bottles with stoppers. 

It's been almost a year since the motorcycle wreck, and today Husband surprised me by replacing my wedding rings. 

He knows me so well. He found a 1940's poison ring. Sterling silver and amethyst. And it fit perfectly. Almost like it had been sitting there waiting for me. I adore him. Yes, I know, strange wedding band, but it is perfect for me. 

Last night Husband and I lay by the campfire, holding each other and staring at the stars.  Even if I live in Banshee holler, it feels like the right place for us. 

Sparks rally

Friday night, we dropped our boys off at my mom's, gave last minute instructions to the homestead sitter, and loaded up the bike with our camping gear.

We saddled up later than we would have liked to, about 8pm. We had a couple hundred miles of road ahead of us, and knew we wouldn't make it by dark. A few blocks before the highway on ramp, we ran out of gas waiting for a passing train. What fun we had pushing our shovel 3 blocks, in the ghetto, to find a gas station. We took the sidewalk.

Gassed up, we once again headed to the highway. Making decent time as we passed everyone on the toll road. If you have ever drove behind a bike and wondered if we all knew each other, because of all the waving that goes on between passing bikes, well we do know each other, in a way. We saw quite a few bikes headed in the opposite direction, they were running, while we were headed straight for trouble.
That picture doesn't look like much, but when you are cageless, it means pain. But that is still in the distance. For a time we were fine, enjoying the cooling ride. My husband and I ride topless, lidless, bucketless, without a helmet. All I have is a one dollar handkerchief to keep my hair from knotting. Right outside of the toll booth, just before hitting the state line, my rag flew off my head. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. Just because you tie it so tight that it digs into your skin, doesn't mean a thing when the wind hits you just right.

Our tank holds about 90 miles worth of gas, we could go farther, yet pushing a bike because you tested it, really isn't as fun as you might think. We pulled off the highway and gassed up. My husband went inside to catch a weather report, while I waved at some passing bikes. There was some scattered showers south of us, in OK City. Our turn off was before then, no worries.

We passed the bikes that I had waved at earlier. They had pulled off to have a smoke. We continued on. Suddenly I ducked my head behind my husband's back. It had begun to sprinkle. If you have never been on a bike when it rains, you have no idea the feeling. Imagine pins and needles piercing your flesh, repeatedly and rapidly. The rain became heavier, thicker, faster, and it was now dark. Bridge one passed us, and I tapped my husband's leg. No response. Bridge, two and three passed, four through seven passed. We started slowing down, it was now a down pour and little could be seen by us. We slowed down to about 50 mph, and a diesel doing the speed limit, or more, 70-80 mph passed us. That was it, we were done. The splatter from the highway that flew off the tires of that passing truck, hurt and soaked what little bits of dry clothing we had left, everything except what was under our leathers.

We pulled up under an overpass, and hopped off the bike. We sought shelter and a barrier between us and the passing vehicles. My husband saved a bull frog from the road and I called my mom and asked for a weather report. The storm was massive and barely moving. My husband and I talked it out. Our best bet was to duck and run to the nearest town and get a hotel for the night. 10 miles later we found ourselves at a Best Western in Guthrie Oklahoma. I checked us in, dripping all over the lobby. A woman and daughter checking in before us, informed me that I was wet. I smiled and thought, thank you for telling me, I wouldn't have noticed. The price to stay for a few hours was outrageous. There was a car show in town, so the rates had been doubled. But it was pay or pain, we paid. We rode off to get a bite to eat, then planed on hitting up the hotel bar for a warmer, but the bar closed too early. So we headed up to the room to get the moist off of us.

We crashed hard, and woke up early. I spent the morning in the bathroom with the hair dryer, attempting to dry out our clothes. It took some time, but I got the dampness to a tolerable level. I did pack a change of clothing, but I knew we were going to get wet again, and wanted to keep that change dry for as long as possible.

We rolled out around 9 am. The sky looked threatening. We turned off the highway onto a toll road, and promptly missed our exit. We literally spiraled to the camp grounds, missing one more exit before we saw bikes. What should have only been an hour ride turned into three. We were finally in Sparks America Campground.


We pulled in around noon, and I called our buddy. He wasn't answering his phone. We hung out around the stage watching the contests for four hours, until we spotted his bike. Finally we could unload. By that time though, my husband and I had a nice warm buzz going from a few beers.

After unloading and making camp, we headed to the site of the ceremony and helped decorate the spot.

Once everything was in place, we were back at the camp site. Our buddy asked if we would sign as witnesses on the marriage licence, we agreed, and hiked up to where the pastor and the church's camp was. I didn't get pictures of their camp site. They are a bike ministry that attends all the events, doing wedding, baptisms, blessing bikes and Sunday services. No matter what the church group that handed us cold bottles of water and a prayer as we turned off onto the long dirt road to the rally might think, we are not all heathens.

We signed the paper, sealing our buddy's fate.

While we were gone, our buddy had to leave, so that the bride could change. We headed to the site were it was to be preformed to start getting the bikes lined up. Unfortunately the nude slip and slide as going on, and we had a hard time getting bikes moved.


Our buddy wasn't looking good. He was nervous and almost to the point of throwing up. I handed my camera to my husband to have him take a blackmail photo if he indeed vomited, and went to buy him some water. On the way, I found the bride trying not to pass out. I brought back water for the two of them. Soon they were feeling better and most of the bikes were lined up or moved, and they could be wedded.Pastor Pickles preformed the ceremony. It was short and to the point.


The elbow in the picture is Pictureman's. I have a few of his backside because he kept popping up.
My husband and I zip-tied the just married flag, that the bride's mother bought, to our buddy's bike.
Bubbles filled the air as tough looking bikers, and my husband, blew them toward the couple.
The couple then rode off, and we followed. Our group has customs and older bikes, we made as much noise as possible as we rode through the campground. The contest announcer was drowned out. We let the entire rally know that we were happy and celebrating this couple for a very noisy 10 minutes. After everything was said and done, we ate and enjoyed the rally. Black Oak Arkansas played, and I am apparently not old enough to know their songs. I know them, but not their music. We headed over to the burn out pit, where the wedding party threw smoke. We were all impressed with one member of our group. His old panhead threw smoke like fireworks. Little puffs would shoot up into the air and exploded into streaming smoke. Of course the was little bits of rubber coming off his tire, some of which made it down his shirt.

We didn't find sleep until after 3 am. And slept until 8 am. It was time to pack up and head home. We decided to play follow the leader, we were all from the Wichita area. Most of the ride home wasn't too bad. We avoided the main highway because of storms. We still rode right into one. We followed the grown-ups in a duck and run, to the nearest shelter, a 30 minute ride in the rain. We waited for almost an hour for things to clear up before we were told to saddle up again. We ran to Stillwater. The bride had never been to Eskimo Joe's, so a detour was needed. We pulled in just as the rain picked up. We walked inside and one of the grownups informed the hostess that we were headed to the bar. She said ok, and we went up. The three girls in the group of nine, took off our gear and ran to the bathroom. First I asked the busboy were it was. We were gone for about 5 minutes.

I have never been discriminated against, at least knowingly. This time I was. I saw it, and felt it. We were kicked out of the area. The bar decided to close. No one told us that the bar was closing before that moment. They had plenty of time. We were not loud, we were not rowdy, we were wet and wanted to eat. We were also dress from head to toe in leathers. It was obvious that we were bikers. We walked down the steps, and one of the grown-ups talked to the hostess, loudly. You are not allowed to call us out when we did nothing wrong. No one else was asked to leave. Oklahoma is known to not serve bikers because we are bikers. We were not real happy, and the grown-up informed the hostess that they just lost 9 paying customers. We walked outside and stood under the awning. It was pouring. We talked about running across the street to another bar. None of us had eaten since 9 am, and it was now 4 pm. We just wanted dry and food. Soon someone poked their head out and told us that they were getting a table ready for our group.

We ate and dropped more than $100 easily there. Full, and still a little ticked at the staff, we had to duck and run yet again. Soon it was dry, we found a path between storms. When I am on the bike, and it rains. I duck my head behind my husband. Rain pelts my skullcap, water streams down my face. I close my eyes and listen to the bikes ahead. Listening for the sounds of downshifting, to know when to brace my feet on the pegs for a stop or slow down. I listen for the Buddy beside us. I feel the bike under me, feeling for curves. I close my eyes, and it feels like flight.

We pulled in at home around 730pm, sore, wet, tired and satisfied.