Boxes in Fields was a blog started to keep my family and friends updated on our crazy life. It was never intended to be anything more than just a form of communication. I know that has been stated before in passing but I am saying again as the last year have been very stressful. No, not stressful but something. Something so something progress was halted at Boxes in Fields.

January started off great with the whimsical pantry knobs. With the bathroom completed, the kitchen in usable presentation, a bench for guests to sit at, I decided the next piece of functional furniture was going to be a table. A real table where six full size adults can sit comfortable, where a 1000 piece puzzle can rest while still offering space for the three of us room to eat, a table with real chairs. Using a little rinky dinky plastic card table was bringing down the feeling of the room. Every table we sat at was measure for width, for height, for thickness. I want something solid and sturdy, warm and inviting, functional and fabulous. Placing a sheet of 4×8 plywood on the card table for three days help to solidify table size. No smaller than 3-1/2 x 5-1/2 and no larger than 4×6.

Ford February. Been sitting as a fixture in all Boxes in Fields posts since 2018, the Planner gave himself a ultimatum at the end of last year: start restoring the F350 or get rid it. Restoration started day one of February with a tractor pull. Day one of so many to come. His plan is to have it completed by next summer. Restoring a truck meant Dwelling progress would be set aside, a decision I was perfectly accepting. He could do the truck and I could do the little projects in the Dwelling. Little projects: prep and shellac floor, sand and paint various trims, paint nook wall, find bear in the forest painting for the bathroom. Little projects. In between I could help him and he could help me. February was the same month another Ford joined the lineup as the Kid was an official teen drivers. February was a quick trip to see the Pontificator for Valentines weekend. Finally, February was the installation of bedroom cabinet doors and knobs and a platform bed with mattress.

March, the third month, and all three of us were sick. After having gone to visit the Doubter for Spring Break, all three of us were sick by the following week with some ailment or another. The Kid has the sniffles that last all week, I was on my third round of antibiotics, and the poor Planner caught the flu. Worse yet, he was relegated to the chair, the floor on the roll up futon that has been in storage since the mattress arrived, or the Work Box floor on layered packing blankets. He could not have the bed as it belonged to me. Sorry I called dibs two months ago. Maybe we could share? And on good days, the Planner continued to restore the Ford.

Me, on the other hand, even fours months after IT started cannot tell you what happened. All I know is there was something wrong and I couldn’t eat. Then I couldn’t drink. Not even water except for sips at a time. If I was lucky. For days, then weeks, and when it turned into a month and half, the appointments started. So many doctors, so many tests, so many unknowns, so much sleep. Sleep 12-16 hours and still need two or three naps a day. How work was ever accomplished I cannot say when there were days I was too tired to even feed the cats. Instead opted to just open the food bucket and let them graze like pigs at the trough. Hotdog really took to this fashion of eating. The Fuzzy Foot would keep me company and offered me small moments when I was alone in the bed, again.

Life for the first four months was kinda hazy. Around the middle of April my body finally figured out how to sustain on 500-1000 calories a day and I was able to return to the world part time. Return a shell of what I was before. That was the worst part. Everybody wanted to know what happened, what was going to happen, and I could not give them any answers because I had none to offer. All while I was trying to come to grips with what was wrong, the boys still went sailing. Not energetic enough for the usual support team, I tagged along only to sit on a bench like a slug. But there was no way I gonna miss a race. How would I have felt if I missed a first place presentation to the Kid?

And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

May came and brought with it a better day to day outlook on my new norm. I was able to work most days with no naps, I was cooking meals for the boys and having up to a 1/3 cup of veggies, and I was able to participate in life activities again. Sort of. I went outside and visited with my hens to discuss why there have been eggs lacking in the nesting box to see the reason. Startled the beejeezus out me that I fell off the chicken step and landed on my bottom. Oof. I went sailing with boys to return as their #1 fan base. I mean look at this kid and his hiking abilities. He did not flip the boat, close, as the sail edge was in the water. I was glad I was here to witness these skills.

And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

June was the first time I left home since January. Sure I went to the next town over, over the next big city over as there were about two dozen appointments there since January but nothing further than an hours total drive. Our little sailing group put together the funds to send both teen sailors to a National Youth Sunfish Regetta sailing event. It was an amazing event with amazing friends. The Kid even got to meet up with other teens he used to sail with years ago. Years and years ago when they were all much smaller and less teenager. Both local teens survived in conditions less than sailable, on waters they were unfamiliar with, in winds that were not like anything they had ever sailed under. THEY WERE AMAZING!

And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

July was the first time any work had been done to the Dwelling since the bedroom cabinet knobs. The grass was mowed, the chickens were feed, and the laundry was maintained. Basics, nothing reportable. Since the mini-split was installed last August in the living room, it has been used to cool or warm the whole living space (nook, kitchen, bedroom). A space heater was still used in the bathroom and a floor fan pushes cold air into the bedroom. Temperatures are too hot now and the bedroom is not cooling enough. Running one mini-split when the second mini-split has been sitting under the first one still its boxes in ridiculous. A hole was drilled through the inner and exterior walls and the condenser unit was set on brackets installed last year as well and bolted into place.

The compressor was charged and the lines tested for leaks. Testing for leaks is the longest portion of the whole process. If there were no tests needed, the mini-split could be installed in two or three hours tops. Testing requires a 24hour period. Once it held to the manufacturer set readings, the mini-split was ready to test. Brrr, standing at the kitchen sink now receives cold air from both mini-splits. Quiet, cold, and hopefully efficient. Only time will tell.

And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

August was spent traveling to see college friends we haven’t seen since living in Asheville. Spent 10 days in CO with some great friends, experienced some great weather, the Kid got to practice his fly fishing skills on great fishing rivers, and ! got to spend some much needed to time trying to feel great again. Lots and lots of books were read and I only was allowed to hike one day for a few short miles. Not that I had any energy for anything else. Still I was saddened at the inability to hike, my most favorite outdoor activity ever. Of all the places we have traveled thus far, I have Alamosa to be my favorite.

And the Planner, he finally got to finish a project he started during Covid. All the parts were ordered weeks before Covid hit and then delayed in receiving them for over two years. Last September and October he built the concrete stand and spent all of August building and installing the electrical components. This was not a plug and play lathe project. Now he can build a part needed for work, build new hinges for all the hatch windows, and build parts needed for the Ford resto. And of the Planner, he did not work on restoring the Ford.

September was more doctor appointments, scary ones, with only positive healthy results. Yeah, healthy. Yet I still cannot eat more than 1/2 cup veggies at a time, not heavy like oatmeal or peanut butter, limited meats. If it wasn’t for potatoes, milk, cheese, ice cream, nuts, and protein drinks I would have been a skeleton by months end. People were starting to worry. I am starting to worry. Outside this worry there was sailing. Watching the boys sail together as a team brought me such joy. Watching the Kid come into his own mini adult in real time makes me sad. There are times when I see the silly little kid he once was, they are fewer and farther apart. Sad. Work was crazy busy and there was very little time work on anything else, including the Ford. Don’t think the Planner worked not even one day on the Ford but he did swing a few hours on the lathe.

October was scary. In between all my appointments, I spent 11 straight days in the hospital with my mom. Eleven days of which nine she was subsisting on IV fluids only. Time in the Big City #1 is time away from the boys, the kitties, the sailing group. Big City #1 means staying with my aunt and her crazy cats. One orange Cheeto and one gray Moto who hisses and spits and refuses to let me down the stairs. Guess 10 days is enough time to make amends. Maybe? I missed sailing, twice. Luckily for me, the sailing family sent me pictures and get well notices. They love me. Once released I was traveling back and forth for the next two months for her six different doctors from the hospital and their follow up appointments. Doubly luckily, I was able to schedule her appts around the last two sailing Tuesdays of the year.

My first morning home I went to bother the Kid like I do and on way the first thing I notice is truck damage. Six months to date before the Kid messed up his truck. Apparently it happened while I was gone and the boys chose to not tell me as nothing happened, it was self inflicted injury and fixable, and I didn’t need undue stress with everything else going on. When the “incident” was brought up in casual passing, the boys busted out laughing. They had a bet on how long it would take me to notice. FYI, I was way ahead of their guesses. And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

November was a time to be thankful. In between the massive amounts of work, oh my lord there was so much work (yeah money for bills) we met the Pontificator in Big City #1 for two days to visit and then the traveled further north another hour to visit with the Doubter. Turkey week was a huge week. Two families and one birthday. A sad birthday. Officially the Kid is no longer a kid but a legal adult. Unofficially he will forever be my little kid even if he towers over me. Normally we don’t do gifts, this year he got a beach permit and a TPWD park pass. He can go anywhere he wants to fish all on his own. Boo-hoo.

December. As we were packing up for the Thanksgiving travels in the pouring rain, it came to my attention the Work Box had developed a roof look. Or two. Ok, three. Only one was a major problem as it was directly over the desk. All the desk stuff was removed, the desk lined with plastic, plastic covered with towels, and a bucket placed under the drip. Less than an 1″ was in the bucket upon our return a week later. Yeah. Over the next month, the major leak was fixed along with the removal of the old downspouts. The black pipe pipe rusted out at the PVC junction. Now there are no black pipe downspouts, all plastic. Since the Planner has it in head to fix all these downspouts next year I will write a much longer detailed post then.

In between roof repairs, there was massive amounts of bookwork for work as nothing had been done since May. And the Planner, he continued to restore the Ford.

That pretty much sums up the entire year. Not how I wanted the year to go nor how I wanted the year to finish. Guess since there is little be done about it, I will call the losses and start fresh again next year. I’m sorry there was not more progress made but I am not sorry at all I was present for family time. In the end, family is all that matters. Hopefully with less doctor appointments, more progress on the Dwelling, less self induced drama, more soul invigorating hiking, and a completed F350 to boot.