Friday, February 6, 2015


A Step Back in Time
Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog today. I’m Rebecca Scarberry, @Scarberryfields on Twitter, and author of seven self-published books in four different genres.
 
Prior to moving to Winslow, Arkansas in 2007, I lived on a farm in Oregon for 12 years. I miss raising chickens the most.  In spite of the tornadoes here, my husband, Rick and I now feel we’ve landed in paradise (the Boston Mountains of Arkansas). It’s definitely ‘a writer’s paradise’.
 
Above is a picture of my Oregon farm where I raised chickens and I had a vegetable garden.
 
Before we left Oregon, we sold just about everything we owned and packed our little 2004 Chevy Aveo hatchback with a few clothes and one cat. We stayed with Rick’s elderly aunt for six months in Rogers, Arkansas while we searched for property to buy. We searched in four surrounding states. We didn’t have much money and we were lucky to find the 5 acre farm on a creek we now own. It was in foreclosure. It was overgrown with silver maple trees and the hay was nearly as tall as I am. I couldn’t resist buying the property when I saw the creek with my very own waterfall and all the wildlife.
 
 
 
 
 
There’s a four bedroom home on the property, but it would have cost a minimum of $25,000 to make livable. There’s also a well house with a hand dug well inside. We had the water tested and found out it was contaminated, like most of the wells in the surrounding area. There’s also a chicken coup, and a tin shack.
 
The four bedroom home with ivy growing around the front and chimney.
 
We decided to get a loan and have a 2 story cabin built. It only cost us $7,500. We did a lot of the work ourselves like drywall, paint, and flooring. We decided not to put any plumbing in for a new septic tank would have been necessary. We couldn’t afford that and with the well water undrinkable, it seemed useless. We were happy to have power. I felt like we’d stepped back in time. . . A time when few had indoor plumbing. It was actually kind of fun. Well, until winter hit. The solar shower was out of the question. We started heating water for bathing indoors or we drove over an hour to a cousin’s house.
 
 
  
The above picture is the cabin upstairs bedroom
 
 
  
We were working fulltime and once we had most of the cabin interior done in August 2007, we moved in. Rick built an outdoor enclosed shower stall. We used a solar shower bag for bathing, bought bottled water, and used a microwave, barbeque, and campfire for cooking.  We adopted a female cat, living in the old house, and ended up with thirteen cats. We saved enough money to have the females spade. I now have four cats and two strays sleeping with the outdoor cats in the old house. We also had an underground metal shelter installed by the cabin and bought two weather radios. Very scary when you hear a report on the weather radio saying a tornado is headed straight for you!!
 

 
Thomasina, the cat we adopted.
 
In 2009 I started handwriting a novel. I didn’t own a computer nor did I know a whole lot about them. I’d used a computer on my job as a HMO claims analyst, but I’d only learned how to use their customized program to pay claims. My father passed away October 1, 2009 and I inherited enough money to have a three bedroom custom home built on the farm. Before they started building the new home, an ice storm hit. We were without power for 9 days. 15 trees came down (damaging the old house and chicken coup). It took us days to cut a path to the main highway.
 
We moved into the new home September 27, 2009. We quit our jobs and I started writing full time. I finally got a laptop in 2011, obtained internet service, and joined Twitter. The first week I owned the laptop, my pc got a virus. I was wishing that I had a teenager in the home to help me. The kids today grew up using computers. I didn’t. It’s been a major struggle learning to use the pc properly, type my novel, socialize without high speed internet service, and keep my pc virus free. We finally got city water 2 ½ years ago.
 
                                          
 
 
 

 
My waterfall in the fall.
 
 
 
Picture showing my metal underground shelter, painted red. 
 
We sold the Aveo to a local farmer and I now have this Hummer. I love it! My husband has one too.
 
 
 
                                                        Rick's Hummer.
                    
 
Just one of the great sunsets here in the mountains with a storm headed my way.

The novel I’d written has never been published and never will be. It’s in need of way too much editing and not really worth my time. In 2012, while sitting on my front porch, the story lines for Messages from Henry and Rag Doll popped into my head. June 14, 2012 I self-published Messages from Henry and on December 9, 2012 I self-published Rag Doll. I’m now writing my eighth book and as long as I can keep my pc working, I’ll continue to tweet, blog, and have fun.

My Amazon author page: http://smarturl.it/0z9brq

29 comments:

  1. Good to learn a little more about you, Becky! :)

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    1. Thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule to read my blog, John.

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  2. Lovely article, Rebecca. So interesting to learn about your life and home and the early days of your writing. Excellent photographs, too.

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    1. Thank you, Susanna. I can't imagine living anywhere else.

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  3. Lovely background article, Rebecca. You live in paradise indeed. I am curious though. The pictures of the house at the bottom are not of your first cabin are they? Is this a new, proper house with plumbing?

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    1. Hi, Val. Thank you for reading about my struggles as a writer. The cabin is red and yes, the brown house is the custom home we had built. Plumbing was installed, but I couldn't drink the water. When we got city water I celebrated! One thing I failed to mention is that my internet service is so poor, I lose the connection often. High speed internet service isn't available here in the mountains.

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  4. That's so inspiring!
    How?
    I won't be able to relate it! It just gave me a go! :)
    And, by the way, I have a cat too!

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I hope it inspires other writer to continue writing no matter how many obstacles they face. Glad you have a cat. I love my cats so much (all females). I hope the 2 strays leave soon.

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  5. What a great life experience. Thank you for sharing it, and the photos. It sounds like you've found your own little bit of heaven! -K

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  6. Thank you, Karen. Yes, it's my little bit of heaven, except when it's tornado season. You know all about that.

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  7. What an amazing story, Rebecca! It sounds like something you could write about in fiction. :)

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read my story here, Keira. Yes, in fact the novel I handwrote was all about the reason I moved to Arkansas from Oregon. Was a tragedy and I hope to get over it one day.

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    2. That sounds very difficult. All of your writing is on the TBR list. I hope you have a great night!

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  8. I'm glad you like Arkansas. It is a special place to live. Good luck in your writing.

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    1. Thank you, Freeda. Yes, it is a special place to live in spite of the tornadoes.

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  9. Really enjoyed your story! Gosh - you do seem to have a lot of cats... :-) Hope all is going well for you and Rick. x

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    1. Thank you for reading my blog, Avalina. Yes, I still have 5 cats, but we love how they keep the rodent population down here.

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  10. Fascinating and inspiring story! I love the photographs too!

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    1. Thank you, Veronica. So glad you took the time to read this and love the photographs.

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  11. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, Veronica. So glad you love the photographs and find my story fascinating.

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  12. what a beautiful and enlightening story, just goes to show that with a bit of hard work and a dream anything is possible. love the cats im a massive cat lover. it sounds like an idylic lifestyle.

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    1. Thank you, Tracy. Yes, it's still a struggle for me online since high speed internet service isn't available here. I love my internet connection often. So glad you love cats as much as I do.

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  13. Your struggles and perseverance have made you who you are today. Wonderful personal story which shows you and your husbands 'grit' and determination. Too many people in today's time would have thrown in the towel and given up before ever starting a journey such as your. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

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    1. Hello, Glenda. Yes, we're proud of ourselves for persevering no matter what.

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  14. Enjoyed reading your story Rebecca..love the waterfall, mountains & cats..take care in those storms,
    Cheers

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, Mary. Yes, we'll make sure we take cover in our shelter when necessary. The local farmers call us big babies, but at least we'll be alive should a tornado hit.

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  15. That waterfall and stream would attract me too. I'd be thinking hydropower

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  16. Very interesting back story. Thank you for sharing. Hope all is well with you after the bad weather yesterday. I have your work on my reading list. I look forward to the read!

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  17. You are clearly a remarkable person and so is your husband. What beautiful scenery surrounds you - though I'm well aware your day to day life must be tough in ways I can't imagine. Thank you for the link. It has been a delight to read your story.
    I can completely empathise with your struggles over computer technology! When my son moved out, we needed to buy in the expertise for those times when it all hits the fan... You're right - the youngsters grow up with an instinct for the way modern technology operates in a way we simply didn't.

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