I’m not cut out for blogging. I get wrapped up in life and stop writing about it, but I’m still here, still working on poultry genetics, still frustrated that I can’t travel, still putting a plan together to get out of here and onto a tropical farm.

In the meantime, the president of the United States is trying to kill himself and take as many people down with him as possible, my cell service is getting worse by the day (thanks, Verizon), I’m drawing unemployment for the first time in my life (thanks, Covid), the claims website is so overloaded I’m lucky if I can submit my weekly claim at all, and when I do finally manage to get through the process without the page crashing, I’m a week behind schedule, and oh— I have a huge rat problem. So, uh… interesting times we’re living in, I guess.

I’m not trying to complain. The truth is I have it better than many people right now, maybe even most people. And I’m more or less healthy; these days that should be the headline, not the afterthought. But I do feel we should all get to subtract one year from our ages and give 2020 a do-over. Plus that would mean I get to go to Panama again, right?

Here’s a partial list of what I’ve accomplished toward my goal since the last time I posted:

1. I have a shipping container and am in the process of moving my tools and some other belongings into it. When it’s moving time it just has to go into a trailer and I’m off. I do not have the trailer yet, but I’m working on it. Having the tools and other stuff out of the shop will also allow me to clean the shop up. (I’ll write more about how shipping containers figure into my larger plans at a later time.)

2. I’ve put the word out that I want to sell my property. I had been hoping to keep it, but I realized that was holding me back, so I’m working on selling it. I owe very little on it now so a sale would mean enough for a big down payment on a ranch and plenty of moving budget.

3. I’ve been paying down my credit cards. I haven’t been super good about it, but I’m getting there. Depending on what happens with the next stimulus, I should be in a place where my only debt is my student loan, and we’ll just not talk about how much that is.

4. I’ve been getting my vehicles in better shape to move. My van is at about 90%; my truck needs more work, but I’ve made major progress and the main things I need are a good body person to tighten up all the panels I’ve replaced, and a good HVAC person to fix that system, since the local hacks have failed to do so multiple times.

4. I bought a car dolly so if my Camry doesn’t get fixed by moving time I can tow it easily.

5. I’ve added some new breeds to my poultry. That doesn’t have anything to do with moving but it does get me closer to my future goals with regard to poultry breeding, and it doesn’t change anything for the move. In chickens, I’ve added Sicilian buttercup, Penedesenca, and Appenzeller Spitzhauben. In pigeons I’ve added Texan pioneers and American giant homers. I’ve also had some successful Narragansett turkey, Ayam Cemani, and Muscovy duck breedings. If this is all nonsense words to you, that’s understandable, but to me it’s pretty exciting stuff.

6. This one’s big — I have a partner of sorts. Basically, if I move to Texas and am able to get a property with two homes on it, or one home and an RV hookup, I have a family that will move with me, rent the larger home from me, and share in some of the farm chores. Obviously nothing’s a done deal until a lease is signed and there’s money in the bank, but if things work out on that front it will essentially ensure that my mortgage is paid and I can travel some, assuming Covid goes away at some point and Americans are welcome abroad again. If the arrangement falls through I’ll look for someone else to rent from me.

Anyway, I’m going to give this thing another go, and try to write a little more about the things I started this blog to write about. First thing will be to re-read everything and see what I already said. For now, I’m losing my train of thought, so I’ll sign off.