Friday, December 19, 2008

What's happening?

Lately, I've been laid up in bed with either a pain in my side or diarrhea. It's been raining a lot. During the last few weeks I've had plenty of time to think about things. The things that weight heavy upon my mind are:

What is happening with the United States and when are the citizens going to demand a revolution in our government or are they just going to let it be and allow all of the corruption, taxes, and government bureaucracy?

What can I do to make my mother understand the importance of making sure the family property is left to the family and not to her husband?

How do I establish a business that can survive us all well into future generations that will own and manage the family property, that can find ways of generating income from the property without raping it of its resources, and that can protect the family's interests.

Will I ever finish the cabin, as there is still so much left to do?

Will my sister and her family be able to learn to take better care of themselves and their finances, and their property?

I've been longing to travel again and I'm not sure if I will be able to afford to go any where, as I'm spending most of my disability income on building the cabin and buying stuff for the new nursery. I suppose I can just enjoy watching the Travel Channel and dreaming that I'm there.

I spent most of last night researching various business structures and which would be the best for our family, and then finding examples of Operating Agreements, finding out how to file such businesses with the State, what the fees are for filing, and after about 8 hours have finally put together the type of business structure and am now starting to put together the Operating Agreement, the Business Plan, and beginning to discuss it with the family. I've found an Operating Agreement for a Limited Liability Company that will allow the business to operate well into the future with transfers of ownership. I still have to find ways to write into the Deed some restrictions of use for the property so it's protected and managed and not misused and abused.

The nursery will be owned and operated by the LLC and is coming along nicely. We now have a 2' x 20' Hothouse, a 10' x 20' Greenhouse, and a 30' x 96' Greenhouse (this one was recently bought and dad and I are waiting on the rains to stop to go start disassembling it and moving it to the farm and set it up again.). The small greenhouse is just about full, so I'm trying to find ways of arranging the plants to fit more stuff inside. We have seeds started of all sorts and next month I will order some vegetable seeds so we can start those and have them ready for sale in early Spring. The flowers are started and cuttings being made to make more are rooting. We're going to be making creative planters with a combination of plants, growing some interesting flowers not common in our area, and I'm going to try to make some potted bamboo creations where the bamboo is trained into some funny ways. Dad bought a used tractor and a trailer, so now we have two trucks and two trailers to load up and drive around selling plants. My niece and dad have been helping out in the greenhouse and learning how to do things.

My new dog, called Perro (Spanish for dog), is a mixed breed that showed up at the house and won't leave. He's become a great companion and I have to get him and P3, my cat, to the vet soon for shots and spaying and neutering.

I was able to get a new front door, a fancy glass one with the blinds inside the glass, yesterday at Lowe's, along with some other things to work on the cabin. I have to finish hanging some sheet rock and then clean everything out of the cabin to start taping and floating it. The next item will be to get the shower and the on-demand hot water heater bought and installed. After that will be buying the trim pieces for the windows and doors, installing those, painting everything, and then buying and installing the rest of the flooring. Hopefully by the time it warms up some I'll be finished inside and can begin painting the exterior, putting up the skirting, planting the gardens around the cabin, installing walkways.

There are other things that require attention around my sister's home and the greenhouses, such as finishing the circular driveway, cutting down some diseased trees, tilling up the new vegetable garden, completing the Wealth Garden, clearing around the pond, buring the many stumps, raking the leaves, trimming the trees, fixing the road, and so much more. It's frustrating sometimes because I feel like I'm the only one, other than dad, that is even concerned about getting all of these things taken care of, as I believe my sister and her family just aren't concerned about doing what is needed to take care of things. I hope after they resolve their health issues that they will become more active in taking care of things.

My hopes are that in time things will get better both for our family and the country, but for now I'm preparing for the worst. What's happening, I can only answer some of my many questions, can you help me answer the others?