Homesteader Blues: Volume 2

by Cherime MacFarlane

Genres: Family Life; Short Stories

Synopsis

Sweet story of a loving couple and his efforts to do something nice for her.
Life and Love in Alaska. Please note each story of this series is a short story.
Sweet, short, contemporary romance. Tina has been putting up with no running water on their farm for over twelve years. Jimmy gets her and the kids out of the house for a week. His aim is to build a bathroom for his wife. Nothing and no one will sidetrack his surprise for Tina, and that includes teen angst and broken equipment.
A self-described red-neck, dirt farmer, Jimmy is smarter than he looks. The country boy knows how to keep his wife happy, and Tina appreciates his efforts.
Life and love in Alaska can take some real twists and turns but nothing this homesteader can't handle. boy knows how to keep his wife happy, and Tina appreciates his efforts.
Life and love in Alaska can take some real twists and turns but nothing this homesteader can't handle.

Release date: December 21, 2014

Publisher: Cherime MacFarlane

Print pages: 60

Sample

 

There’s a saying out here and every farmer who lives in the Copper Basin knows. There isn’t a one who’ll look at you funny if you mention you have the homesteader blues. It means you’ve got to fix something to fix something to fix something.

I somehow talked the old lady, for God’s sake don’t let her know I called her that, into taking the kids to town. The family planned to spend the entire week of the Alaska State Fair with friends in Palmer and take in everything the Fair offered.

My plot was to make a much-needed renovation to the old place I knew she would love. Tina had been putting up with hauling water for well over twelve years. How I talked her into marrying me and coming out here to live is still a mystery. I was and still am one very lucky S.O.B.

In my head, I always refer to her as “the old lady,” it’s a kind of gallows humor I suppose. I don’t want to jinx what we’ve got by getting too vocal about it all. Let me get back on track here.

After hustling my butt big time around this joint, I more or less had stuff ready for the big job. My plan was to put in gravity feed running water. Hot running water and a real honest-to-God flush toilet in the bathroom was the goal.

A bathtub was not workable. I would've loved to give her one, but the damn things take too much water.

It would be wonderful to have a gigantic bathtub we could have fun in. But the thought of hauling five hundred gallons of water to the house every other day is mind-boggling. No can do.

Too many other things need done around here for me to waste time sitting in a truck. You don’t understand how long it takes to sit at the community well waiting to fill the tank unless you’ve done it. I get a lot of quality time in reading while sitting there.

There are other things I can get done while pumping the water up into the house. But someone needs to keep an eye out on the operation, so when the tank is empty, the pump gets shut off.

Otherwise, I would wind up buying a new pump several times a year. As expensive as they are, keeping an eye on the tank is a real priority.

Okay! Tina and the kids were on the road. After I had activated the GPS on her phone without her knowledge, it was easy to see Tina’s position on the highway. I wasn't trying to be a prick; it was necessary. I needed to know when any chance of her turning around and coming back to the house because somebody forgot something no longer existed. It would take every last minute of the time available to pull this off.