Crashing again

I'felt rotten for the past 2 or 3 weeks, though not as bad as some of you.  I can still go grocery shopping, but it wipes me out.  The closest Walmart to me is 22 miles away, but I prefer the Walmart that is 32 miles away.  (Much larger town, better selection at that Walmart, and more stores to go to if Walmart doesn't have what I need.  This town also has an Aldi's - they're cheap!  My daughter lives in the bigger town, too. So, I drive more.).   I prepare probably 95% of our meals from scratch, so cooking is wiping me out, too.  A few night's ago, I made BBQ pork chops, diced stewed potatoes in cheese sauce, fried cabbage (Appalatian Mtn. thing, with onions, bacon or salt pork - don't knock til you try it!) , and biscuits.  Big mess in the kitchen ...... Tim had the dishes done before I got out of bed the next morning.  Whe Was!

Tension headaches.   My lower back and legs hurt.  Feels like my legs hurt down into the bone, muscles are weak, balance is off .......   It will pass.  I'll feel better one of these days.  I have to.  My irises have taken over one of my flower beds, so I need to dig those buggers up and move them......, soon!

Okay, enough whining !  Gotta tell ya bout our new neighbor.  He bought a small lot on our little dead end road last fall.  There is a 12'x72' house trailer on the lot.  Years ago the trailer had a couple of families renters in it who trashed it.  Then it sat empty for several years.  While it was empty, a druggie stripped all of the electrical wiring out of it to sell the copper.  If the trailer was located inside of a city limit, it would be condemned.  

Our new neighbor bought the place and moved up here from Joelton TN because he had no where else to go.  When his elderly parents died, his siblings sold the family farm and basically ran him off.  For a while, he lived in a camper trailer in his brother's back yard. His family has nothing to do with him.  The neighbor isn't a bad person, but he is eccentric, to put it mildly ...... an embarrassment for an upscale family on the outskirts of Nashville.  He is big into conspiracy theories ...... he brought a boatload of cats with him, he's the male version of the crazy car lady ...... during deer season, he thought everybody was hunting his cats....... on and on.   He is not a trusting person, by any means.  He doesn't quite understand that around here, we accept weird, as long as you are not a threat.      And he is just weird, nothing more.  One of my cousins is a deputy sheriff - he has acces to info and he knows things.

Tim and I were the first neighbor's to speak to him, then my dad, then other people stopped by to introduce themselves .......  Some of my cousins offered him food ...... He refused.   At first he refused to accept help from anyone, but he is starting to settle in.  After he got used to me, he drilled me and grilled me about everyone in the area - he needs to know who he can trust.    He knows that my family has been here for generations and  I'm kin to most people in our area ...........and the small lot he bought used have an old house on it, and it belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather built a large sturdy shed that still stands there.  He lives directly across the road from my brother.  Three sides of my brother's house lot joins the backside of our dad's farm, so he sees us all just about every day.

Obviously, he has no electricity.  He does have flashlights and a small, old gasoline powered generator. Sometimes the generator runs okay, sometimes it doesn't.   He cooks bacon and eggs on a hotplate that he runs off of the generator.  He had a wood heater about the size of a microwave oven.  We knew that heater wouldn't get him through the winter.  So, Tim talked to my mom.  She had bought a new heater, but she still had her old Warm Morning out in the garage.  We talked him into taking the old heater.  Now, he's tickled pink that he did.  Tim has taken fire wood to him, cut with permission from fallen/cleared trees around the power line and from a farmed timber tract on a neighbor's farm.  Christmas morning, my mom fixed him a plate and my dad took it to him - he accepted .....   A couple of weeks ago, I took him a loaf of Amish friendship bread, and he loved it.  He does have a cellphone.  He has exchanged phone numbers with us ....... Just in case.....  He has accepted my family.  He knows we're not all out to get him now.

This man's name is Eugene.  He is alone.  He needs prayers, and then some.

I'm still hoping DS will revive, maybe with a format that is easier and more friendly?  There doesn't seem to be much activity on here.  Hugs to everybody.