TRUE NORTH: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

It seems to me...from emails and comments I have received, that there is misinformation floating about. Apparently, there is confusion as to which one of our animals ate our three little chicks. Their untimely dem

ise was bad enough, but to accuse the wrong animal of doing the awful deed is criminal.

The Good:
Maximus...aka The Baby Boy. This seemingly normal toy fox terrier is anything but that. He is a 'Good Boy", and we often shower him with that and other similar types of praise. If fact we strongly believe that Max wants to be a 'Real Boy', and as such would never harm defenseless chickens. In this photo it shows Max leaning in towards the chicks...not in an aggressive manner as those in the media might suggest...no, Max only wanted to kiss them. Verdict: Innocent.

The Bad:

Pretty Kitty...the cat with an identity crisis. He eats dog food, fears the outdoors, acts creepy on most occasions (gaining the new name: Creepy kitty), and is a brutal mouse eliminator. In the winter months nary a mouse survives long. As the weather becomes cold, and the mice seek refuge in our house it is to their folly. Pretty Kitty will not suffer them to live long. So, BAD to mice...didn't give the chicks a second glance. Verdict: Innocent.

The Ugly:
Gypsy...the dog gone wild. Once she was a loving animal that desired staying clo

se to us and enjoy the comforts of home. Now, she seeks to escape at any given chance and attempts to terrorize nature's wild life. It is a constant battle with this wayward dog to keep her out of trouble. Yet, her place with us is secure for we have had her for many years. Her ugly behavior, however, might lead to a fenced in pen and a permanent 'outside dog'. Verdict: Guilty.

All joking aside, Gypsy really is a concern for us. We love her very much, but she is having difficulty finding her place at True North. We've become more vigilant when it comes to her escapes, and we our investigating alternatives to the common chain. Hopefully, very soon, she wont be a worry for us, but a joy like she once was.

13 comments:

mmpaintsApril 20, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Hang in there Patrick, I know the feeling. Banty's and chicks of all breeds are lunch here too for the barn cats. The cats even try the big chickens every now and then. Had an aussie shepard that liked to kill chickens, he wore a dead one around his neck until it rotted off. He never touched another chicken.
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AnonymousApril 21, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Poor Gypsy. Are you sure that Creepy Kitty didn't do it? Tastes like chicken!

Chrome Cowgirl
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MelissaApril 21, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Yeah, we know it's Gypsy..our bad girl!
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Stephanie ShumwayApril 21, 2009 at 5:20 PM
I love the pictures for this- gypsy licking her chops. funny. I hope she can leave the other chickens alone...
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MelissaApril 22, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Thanx..we kinda love the pets so we had a ton of pix to choose from. Yes we REALLY hope she behaves herself when the hens come.
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Faye @ GreenOrganicMama.comApril 22, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Sorry to hear of your troubles with Gypsy. Might I recommend you check out your library for Cesar Millan's books? He offers great insight into dog psychology.
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Kevin M.April 22, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Hey, I found your website through the USA Today article and wanted to commend you for what you're doing. HAve you ever heard of Harlan Hubbard? He was a Kentucky artist just a couple of decades ago who, with his wife, built a house and lived a self sustaining life (ie-gardening, fishing, raising goats,etc) for about 40 years. He wrote a great book about it you might be interested in reading- Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society.
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weefaithApril 23, 2009 at 7:45 AM
We bought an inexpensive training collar from Cabela's. It has a handheld remote and different levels of "correction". We held a training session with our dog and the chickens. Every time she went for one, or got perky around them, she received a bit of a nasty feeling. After a few sessions of this, Gypsy might rethink her behavior. Worth a try, she's a beautiful dog.
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MelissaApril 23, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Faye....Yes we have heard of Cesar Millan, we used to watch his show before cable was gone! Always loved it!

Kevin M.....Thanks for the heads up on the book, I'll see if our library has it. Always looking for similar stories to ours.

Weefaith...We have considered doing this, we checked on them before but the prices were a bit high. But it may have to be an investment we make in future. Thanks for the kind words.
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GildasApril 23, 2009 at 12:36 PM
I am just now completing an entry on my own website (www.fromthecatacombs.info)that mentions you folks and the USA Today article. Your attitude toward your project is, to me at least, highly commendable and eminently practical.

I wish you Godspeed on your journey; I am old (nearly 63)and grey already and when I began my own self-sufficiency project five years ago, everyone thought I was stark, staring mad; they think that no longer, given the way things are going out there.

I've now joined your "follow" group and hope you'll be inspired to join mine. I plead indulgence in advance for not yet knowing all the tech tricks to make my site look and work better.

P.S. I added a comment with a suggestion or two to an earlier posting of your about the chicks

God bless and good luck!
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MelissaApril 23, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Gildas...Thanks so much for stopping by, I wish we had started 5 years ago like you. You're way ahead of the curve! I will check out your blog. Only the best to you.
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morganMay 7, 2009 at 9:04 AM
Gee.. who would have thought the cat ate the mouse. lol..
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morganMay 7, 2009 at 9:20 AM
I'm reading some of these comments now.. and.. I'm curious about something..

But before I ask I just wish to say that, I find what you're doing to be very interesting, a good idea, etc. I'm all for it.

That said, my question is.. why do you use terminology like, " this is a journey. a journey to find our way home ". Aren't you home? By what I'm reading I'd say you're one of the few ppl in this country that has found their home. That the journey seems to have ended. You seem to have something established. But that's not what I wanted my question to focus on I guess. I mean, why the.. spiritual/new age language that you see in D rated films?

And as far as the dog.. and the dog "finding it's place here". You do understand its a dog. Not capable of human computation, right? It's primal. When animals bite humans or hop fences.. it's because they're instictual creatures. That is their nature. Their home is the wild and there's a reason they call it the wild. To observe an animal "domesticated" in a house to me is like watching an interesting vistor. They can come and go as they please. Sometimes you'd wish they wouldn't go.. but they do sometimes.

Anyways, those were just some things I wanted to say. Enjoy the site. Keep it up.
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About True North

True North
Finding our way home.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination.”

Those words, famously penned by G. Anderson, is perhaps the reason why my wife and I have chosen to put the proverbial pen to paper. Our decision to embark on what can only be the most challenging, and possibly the most rewarding, chapter of our lives has inspired us to keep a record of these events. A journal, so to speak, of the trials and tribulations that are sure to be encountered, but also the joys and wonders that we will almost certainly discover. Perhaps our children and their children will one day look back upon these words and find comfort and knowledge. It seems dreamy and a bit romantic to think of such things, but at the very least…when we are old and gray…Melissa and I can come back to these writings and revisit the journey, while we rest peacefully at our destination.

What is this journey, you ask? A trick question no doubt and one not easily answered. Yet, the concept is simple, but the answer may seem complex. What is the journey?

Self reliance, living off the grid, a return to the old ways, frugal living, or as we’ll simply call it…homesteading. It has many names, but ultimately it is an attempt to shed the so called “comforts” of the modern world, to discover what lies beneath the gaudy mantle of commercialism, and ultimately embrace a simpler life that focuses on the beauty of family and the truth of true freedom. The earn, spend, earn era has come to an end for us.

We have said farewell to the constant bombardment of social and economical pressures that have for so long maintained a stranglehold on pure happiness. No more shall we embrace debt as a way to reward ourselves for hard work. No longer will the unrealistic and unattainable image of the ‘Jones’, that the media and Hollywood relentlessly spit out at us, be sought. No, from this day forward, our perspective has, and must, change.

The idea of living a fuller more satisfying life seems simple to us now. Yet, it wasn’t that long ago that we remained mired in the faulty reasoning that led us into debt, false happiness, and spiritual emptiness. One day, however, Melissa had an epiphany of such earth shattering simplicity that our view of everything changed. Family, friends, wealth, happiness, love, God; it all suddenly came into focus. You see, 2008 had brought many lows to us. The death of Melissa’s mother, and an economic crisis were the catalyst in a deep unhappiness we, as a family, had never quite experienced before. Sure, we have all had our ups and downs, but this time things were different, and we kept asking ourselves why? Why was this happing to us? No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t recover. We attempted everything that commercialized society told us to do. We bought things, went on vacations, worked harder, earned more money, but still our grief and hardships plagued us. Again, why was this happening to us?

Melissa’s answer to this question was to me, profound. One day, while crying over a pay check I had earned, that was sizable by most standards, but woefully inept considering our situation, Melissa stated the obvious. Through saddened tears she said. “Maybe all this keeps happening to show us that we’re doing it all wrong.”

Money, cash, credit….maybe they don’t matter. Maybe, just maybe, it is those things that impede our ability to be truly happy. Is it possibly that the idea of working hard, earning a paycheck, spending the money to reward yourself was a false way to live? Maybe not for you or even anyone else…but for us it is the antithesis of life. By dramatically reducing our expenses we believe that we can have a fuller, happier life, concentrating on our family without all the noise of media markets and subliminal peer pressure.

Our formula is simple. By spending less, we don‘t need to earn as much money. In the past we viewed saving money as a way to be able to buy other stuff. New cars, expensive toys, high end clothing…all the things that we were told would make us happy. After becoming experts in spending cash, we discovered we weren’t happy at all. It had all been a cleverly crafted myth to keep us in the unending cycle of earning, consuming, and ultimately, guilt and unhappiness. Wealth, no longer looked upon the same, has taken on a more accurate and precise meaning. True wealth for us can no longer be weighed on the scales of economic excess or gauged be the newest devices and trinkets the market has to offer.

Recently, our daughter Gabrielle was having a rough time with things. When Melissa asked her what was wrong Gabrielle told her in an honesty known only to kids: “I miss my dad.” That didn’t break my heart…it shattered it! What is more important than being there for your loved ones? Money? Prestige?

Nothing. With hard work, and yes it will be hard, we will be able to live the richest life possible, spending time with one another as opposed to spending money. In this life, cash will not be the be-all-end-all, and our time together will be more precious than the rarest of gems.

Lastly, I should say, that this is not a way for us to change the world, or make a political statement. It is not an attempt to convert others to be green or expose some diabolical conspiracy forged by the forces that be. It is not some overly romantic dream where we will drink cupfuls of rainbows, and dine on happy thoughts. No, it is simply a journey for us…a journey to find our way home.

True North is:

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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