My sewing machine has been in the shop for a necessary tune-up for seventeen days.  Its stitches were ugly and the bobbin-winding was disaster after disaster.

In a winter where we are not entertaining and Banjo Man is content to be in his office or on the couch, this means that in my life nothing is going on.  I have cleaned out enough shelves, emptied enough bins, made enough trips to the donation center of Savers.  The house is clean.  My fabric is organized.  There are many containers of soup and casseroles in the freezer.  I have a box of stuff collected to take to the lake and my travelling clothes are ready and waiting.  I’ve planned the road trip route and even booked a couple of hotels.

So…what to do…

Meet  my  new  friends.

Matt, Marty and Misty Raney’s HOMESTEAD RESCUE show on the Discovery Channel is rescuing me.

The 10th season of this show just started, so I am very late to this particular party.  I came across it while channel-surfing one Saturday afternoon and couldn’t believe how interesting it was.  Youtube TV has all seasons “on demand”, so I am in hog heaven.

Speaking of hogs, I have learned that pregnant sows need to be separated from the boars.  Bad things happen otherwise.  I think I could build a pen now  (not kidding–52 years ago my Christmas present from Banjo Man was a much desired electric drill).

I know how to protect my ducks from owls and hawks.  And my goats from coyotes.  My honey from bears.  My chickens from foxes.  Myself from mountain lions (once I learn to shoot).

I am having a wonderful time here in the safety of my warm, electric-powered, water-on-tap home.

Marty and his kids travel around the country spending a week at a time at various homesteads that desperately need their help in order to survive.

These people really need help.

Banjo Man finds it hard to watch, but if there is a segment on digging a well or cobbling together a water pump I make him watch it with me.  Otherwise it makes him nervous to watch the homesteaders do things that don’t make much sense.

I feel for them, though.  They want to live their dream and have discovered it’s not that easy.  They’re doing their best and trying so hard.  One young couple defiantly told Marty–a gruff, no-nonsense, hard-working MacGyver type of fixer—that they’d learned how to do homestead things from watching You Tube videos.

I thought Marty’s white hat was going to blow up.  The man who spent his life homesteading in Alaska gritted his teeth and growled, “Don’t you ever say the words ‘You tube’ to me again.”

Their shocked reaction was hilarious.

I am learning a lot. I should be taking notes.  This is a new way to annoy my family with comments like, “I know how to connect chicken wire with no tools, just one screw,” and “If I had a duck pond I would make sure the overflow drained downhill to my garden.”

There have been two episodes that featured people in my county at the lake.  Neighbors, almost.  Banjo Man thought he recognized one of the couples.  Season 4, Episode 8 “Fury and Fire” was filmed during a summer of forest fires as the nervous Raney’s could see and smell the smoke from a fire only five miles away.

The younger people are usually resistant to doing things Marty’s way, which is usually an out-of-the-box and outspoken solution to a major issue.  The older folks are more like, “Thank God, we’ll try anything!”

Matt is an experienced hunter and game expert who concentrates on the safety of the homestead, along with operating the excavators and any other major piece of equipment.  He’s a mild-mannered young man who bonds with the teenagers and teaches them about wildlife and hunting and shooting–everything they need to know to keep themselves and their families safe.

Misty is the gardener.  And the livestock expert.  She’s another kind and helpful person who can assess a problem and come up with a solution.  I’ve never seen anyone work so hard as this young woman does and the homesteaders love working with her.  Misty = food.

Their loud, impatient, tender-hearted father is a good guy, once you get to know him.  He’s a natural problem-solver who sees the big picture.  But his ideas can be “crazy” (his word), though he will put his heart and soul and own safety into solving a desperate homesteader’s do-or-die issues.  Like drinking water.  Heat.  Safety.  Roads.  Dams.  Protection from wild fires, flooding, and landslides.

The Raneys will use anything they can find on the homestead, such as old lumber, boulders, wire, etc.

Neighbors and family will often come to help the homesteaders during the filming of the show.

From the Idaho Press:  [Raney]said: “Almost like the further you get away from the epicenter of any significant population, there seems to be a little less stress and a little more family-oriented mentalities, and neighbors help each other.  I’m always watching everything when we are filming, and in the neighborhood, (you will see) complete strangers are helping their neighbors, often saying, ‘we don’t want to be on camera.’  I’m looking at a man here in Tennessee right now.  One of the contractors arranged for a shed to get delivered here (for these homesteaders) — thousands of dollars, and doesn’t want to be on camera.  So yes, there seems to be an appreciation for family and neighborliness the further you get into these mountains, hills, islands, and deserts.”

Thanks to the Ramey’s, I’m enjoying this hiatus after all.

Check it out:

https://www.discovery.com/videos/homestead-rescue-building-without-nails-5578603