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    Homesteader Blues
    Homesteader Blues
    Homesteader Blues
    Ebook69 pages1 hour

    Homesteader Blues

    By Cherime MacFarlane

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Sweet story of a loving couple and his efforts to do something nice for her.
    Tina has been putting up with no running water on their farm for over twelve years. Jimmy gets her 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 his wife, 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCherime MacFarlane
    Release dateDec 21, 2014
    ISBN9781310406898
    Homesteader Blues
    Author

    Cherime MacFarlane

    Meet Award-Winning, Best-Selling Author Cherime MacFarlane. A prolific multi-genre author, she has a broad range of interests that reflect her been there-done that life. Romance, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, all sorts of characters and plots evolve from a vivid imagination. As a reporter for the Copper Valley Views, Cherime MacFarlane received a letter of commendation from the Copper River Native Association for fair and balanced reporting. She was part of the Amazon Best Selling in Anthologies and Holidays, and Fantasy Anthologies and Short Stories. The Other Side of Dusk was a finalist in the McGrath house award of 2017.

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      Book preview

      Homesteader Blues - Cherime MacFarlane

      Homesteader Blues

      Volume 2 of Life and Love in Alaska

      By Cherime MacFarlane

      Copyright 2014 Cherime MacFarlane

      Copyright Notice:

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is completely coincidental.

      Author's Note: I've sung that blues tune more than I care to think about.

      License Notes:

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please visit your favorite retailer and purchase a copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Artwork: Cherime MacFarlane

      Dedicated to; two old dirt farmers who knew they were lucky S.O.B.'s, Terry and Sam.

      There’s a saying out here and every farmer out this way knows what you mean if you mention you have the homesteader blues. It means you have 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 was planning 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 to be done around here for me to waste that much time. You don’t understand how long it takes to sit at the community well waiting to fill the tank. 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 where Tina was. I wasn't trying to be a prick; it was necessary because 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.

      As soon as she turned onto the Glenn Highway, I figured we were good to go. I got on the horn to old man Higgins down the road, and the septic tank was on its way. Jenks, the guy with the D9 Cat, said he would be along shortly.

      Knowing him the word ‘shortly’ could mean anywhere from an hour to half a day. I made sure he was on the way by telling him Tina made a lemon meringue pie the previous night, and I had a fresh pot of coffee brewing.

      When you want to get work out of a bachelor, mention pie. I also told him Higgins would be down in about fifteen minutes, and there was only half the pie left. I heard him starting the D9 as he hung up the cell phone. Done.

      When Higgins got there, the Homesteader Blues started playing. I hoped to get the big tank off Higgins’ trailer by winching it off with his big come along and mine, I got shot down. The sheepish look on Higgins’ face told me there was a real problem with the preferred method.

      His come-along used wire cable inside. It seems he had tried pulling out a real big stump and screwed the thing up big time. We had a chain to use for attaching to the two big trees I was hoping to deadman from. No dice, until I fixed his come along.

      I went to work on the cable. I had to cut it and unwind the whole flipping thing then wind it back up by hand. The flap over the hook was bent, and I had to remove it and

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