Getting Started

So, my daughter suggested I start a blog. Hmmm, sounded good in theory, but do I have enough to say to have a blog? Also, do I have anything interesting to say? Well, not sure about either, but I might as well jump in with both feet and see how it goes.
I titled my blog Little Farm in the Big Woods partly because I have always been a big Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. Since my life has been a bit like going back in time for the last 11 years, I thought I would pay tribute to her by using a similar title.
Eleven years ago I married a man from Canada. Let's call him The Rancher (he truly likes to think of our place as a ranch, though my part of it is more farm). So, I moved from a city in Utah, to a ranch/farm in Canada. For the first nine years that I was here, The Rancher worked away from home. He was only home for about eight days a month. I had never lived on a farm. I didn't know anything about taking care of cows, dealing with frozen pipes, keeping a wood stove going and a lot of other farm related things.
We arrived in the summer. We being my three children and I. When we first got here, we had no house. We had a very small, one-room cabin, no electricity, no running water and no civilization very close (at least it didn't seem close at that point in time). My boys were 10 and 12, and they saw it all as quite an adventure. My daughter was 16 and not so sure she liked the adventure. However, as we look back on it, it was a great time for all. We got to know my step daughter who also lived with us that summer, and we got closer as a family since there was no TV, computer and all other forms of electronic gadgets. We read together, played games together and just talked a lot. What fun memories we created, and what fun stories my kids will be able to tell my grandchildren some day!
We spent that first summer learning how to do without a lot of things. However, I learned to cook on a tiny gas stove, how to feed company in our little makeshift garage when it was pouring rain and we normally ate outside on a picnic table, how to pound staples in fence posts and how to not get too freaked out when my kids came running from the back forty to tell me they saw some type of wild cat (which from the description they gave my husband was most likely a lynx). We learned to enjoy our Saturday outings to "town" where we took showers at the local laundromat. My kids weren't all that excited about the shower, but they enjoyed seeing how few quarters they could spend to get that shower. Memories! The boys explored every inch of our 166 acres. Their imaginations were greatly increased since they had to use them so much.
I was happy when our mobile home finally came, the electricity was installed and we got running water. However, at the same time, I was somewhat sad to lose that closeness we all had. By fall we were all back to taking showers at home, TV and all that comes with electricity for granted. I'm just thankful that none of my children hate me for this somewhat unique experience that I forced upon them.
I have a friend in Florida that I have kept in contact with since we graduated high school too many years ago. I have kept her up on all the craziness this new life has brought with it, and she has told me on several occasions that I should write a book. Maybe this blog is the start of a book. Maybe sharing some of my zany farm experiences here can get my creative juices flowing, and I can make a more serious attempt at writing that book. I guess only time will tell. For now, though, Mooosie (my blog name, which I shall explain later) is thinking I should head to bed. Two little dogs are tired of sleeping on the couch and are ready to go take up a lot of room in a real bed. How two such small critters can take up so much room is beyond me, but they really do.