Laptop installation script/guide

Having to have access to reinstall my laptop, I’m putting this up. Mirrored Encrypted ZFS configuration.

Verify actual disks by doing ls -l on the $DISK Variable. May switch between reboots. 

DISK1=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2252E6966FC3
DISK2=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2240E671E0D3


DISK2=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2252E6966FC3
DISK1=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-CT4000P3PSSD8_2240E671E0D3

HOST=fafnir
USER=alan
POOL=UbuntuZFS

blkdiscard -f $DISK1

sgdisk --zap-all $DISK1
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI $DISK1
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot $DISK1
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap $DISK1
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:Pool $DISK1
sgdisk --print $DISK1

PART1UUID='blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part1'
PART2UUID='blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part2'

blkdiscard -f $DISK2 2>/dev/null
sgdisk --zap-all $DISK2
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI -u1:$PART1UUID $DISK2
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot -u2:$PART2UUID $DISK2
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap -u3:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:POOL -u4:R $DISK2


For a non-mirrored boot configuration
. Making the partitions size match to ZFS doesn't complain on the mirror creation.


blkdiscard -f $DISK2 2>/dev/null
sgdisk --zap-all $DISK2
sgdisk -n1:1M:+127M -t1:EF00 -c1:EFI -u1:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n2:0:+1920M -t2:8300 -c2:Boot -u2:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n3:0:+64G -t3:8200 -c3:Swap -u3:R $DISK2
sgdisk -n4:0:0 -t4:BF00 -c4:POOL -u4:R $DISK2


zpool create -o ashift=12 -o autotrim=on \
-O compression=lz4 -O normalization=formD \
-O acltype=posixacl -O xattr=sa -O dnodesize=auto -O atime=off \
-O encryption=aes-256-gcm -O keylocation=prompt -O keyformat=passphrase \
-O canmount=off -O mountpoint=none -R /mnt/install $POOL mirror $DISK1-part4 $DISK2-part4





zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/ $POOL/root
zfs mount $POOL/root

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/home $POOL/home
zfs mount $POOL/home
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/home

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/var $POOL/var
zfs mount $POOL/var
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/var

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/var/lib $POOL/var/lib
zfs mount $POOL/var/lib
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/var/lib


replicant data sets are for data that is replicated elsewhere (e.g. Dropbox or Nextcloud) or not desired to be in the home directory

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant $POOL/replicant
zfs mount $POOL/replicant
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/Dropbox $POOL/replicant/Dropbox
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/Dropbox
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/Dropbox

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/Nextcloud $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/Nextcloud

zfs create -o canmount=noauto -o mountpoint=/mnt/replicant/storage $POOL/replicant/storage
zfs mount $POOL/replicant/storage
zfs set canmount=on $POOL/replicant/storage

yes | mkfs.ext4 $DISK1-part2
mkdir /mnt/install/boot

mount $DISK1-part2 /mnt/install/boot/

mkfs.msdos -F 32 -n EFI -i 4d65646f $DISK1-part1
mkdir /mnt/install/boot/efi

mount $DISK1-part1 /mnt/install/boot/efi

apt update
apt install --yes debootstrap
debootstrap noble /mnt/install/

echo $HOST > /mnt/install/etc/hostname
sed "s/ubuntu/$HOST/" /etc/hosts > /mnt/install/etc/hosts
cp /etc/netplan/*.yaml /mnt/install/etc/netplan/

mount --rbind /dev /mnt/install/dev
mount --rbind /proc /mnt/install/proc
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/install/sys
chroot /mnt/install /usr/bin/env \
DISK1=$DISK1 DISK2=$DISK2 HOST=$HOST USER=$USER \
bash --login


Inside CHROOT

locale-gen --purge "en_US.UTF-8"
update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=en_US
dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive locales

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

apt update
apt install --yes --no-install-recommends \
linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic \
zfs-initramfs \
cryptsetup \
keyutils \
grub-efi-amd64-signed \
shim-signed \
zstd

echo "swap $DISK1-part3 /dev/urandom \
swap,cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,plain" >> /etc/crypttab

echo "swap $DISK2-part3 /dev/urandom \
swap,cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,plain" >> /etc/crypttab

cat /etc/crypttab


echo "PARTUUID=$(blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part2) /boot ext4 noatime,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=5s 0 1" >> /etc/fstab
echo "PARTUUID=$(blkid -s PARTUUID -o value $DISK1-part1) \
/boot/efi vfat noatime,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=5s 0 1" >> /etc/fstab
echo "/dev/mapper/swap none swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab


cat /etc/fstab


/etc/init.d/cryptdisks restart && sleep 5
swapon -a

echo "vm.swappiness=10" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
echo "vm.min_free_kbytes=1048576" >> /etc/sysctl.conf

echo "fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 524288" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
echo "
HandleLidSwitch=ignore" >> /etc/systemd/logind.conf
update-initramfs -c -k all

update-grub
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Ubuntu \
--recheck --no-floppy


We need to install the Desktop first to be able to add the repo:

apt install ubuntu-desktop



Add a couple essential tools:


add-apt-repository universe
add-apt-repository restricted
add-apt-repository multiverse
apt update
bash-completion \
nano \
curl \
gparted \
smartmontools \
sanoid \
plocate


apt dist-upgrade --yes

mkdir /etc/sanoid
wget -O /etc/sanoid/sanoid.defaults.conf https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid/blob/master/sanoid.defaults.conf
wget -O /etc/sanoid/sanoid.conf https://github.com/jimsalterjrs/sanoid/blob/master/sanoid.conf


adduser --disabled-password --gecos '' $USER
usermod -a -G adm,cdrom,dip,lpadmin,plugdev,sudo $USER
echo "$USER ALL=NOPASSWD:ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/$USER
passwd $USER




wget -O- http://packages.medo64.com/keys/medo64.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/medo64.asc
echo "deb http://packages.medo64.com/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medo64.list
apt update
apt install -y syncbootpart
syncbootpart

dd if=$DISK1-part1 of=$DISK2-part1
dd if=$DISK1-part2 of=$DISK2-part2
update-grub


exit

Out of CHROOT

sync
umount /mnt/install/boot/efi
umount /mnt/install/boot
mount | grep -v zfs | tac | awk '/\/mnt/ {print $3}' | xargs -i{} umount -lf {}
zpool export -a

reboot

Post install setup:

wget -O dropbox.deb https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/ubuntu/dropbox_2025.05.20_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i dropbox.deb
rm dropbox.deb


wget -O vivaldi.deb https://downloads.vivaldi.com/stable/vivaldi-stable_7.5.3735.62-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i vivaldi.deb
rm vivaldi.deb

wget -O ~/Appimages/nextcloud.AppImage https://download.nextcloud.com/desktop/releases/Linux/Nextcloud-3.17.0-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x ~/Appimages/nextcloud.AppImage

After recovering the .ssh folder, run
ssh-add
to import identities.

Signal Messenger:

wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg;
cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

# 2. Add our repository to your list of repositories:
echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |\
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list

# 3. Update your package database and install Signal:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop

#Mattermost Desktop
curl -fsS -o- https://deb.packages.mattermost.com/setup-repo.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt install mattermost-desktop

SuperMicro IMPI View
IMPI View
https://www.supermicro.com/en/support/resources/downloadcenter/smsdownload?category=IPMI



Master PDF:

Dungeon Draft
Wonder Draft

Zoom

sudo apt install keepassxc evolution vlc gimp imagemagick nautilus-nextcloud nautilus-image-converter plocate libfuse2

Nomachine
https://www.nomachine.com

Fix wireplumber issue:

sudo apt install libcamera-ipa pipewire-libcamera

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!

Summer Update!

It’s been a hot minute since we posted an update. Life has finally gotten to a point where I can slow down a bit and post!

In November, we got back from the trip to home base in Florida.

Converted / Hamilton / 2024

Immediately, we were into the holiday rush between Thanksgiving, Yule, New Year, and missed birthdays.

My helpers helped me build a little patio deck for the RV.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Randal Kieran Johnson / Clay County

Randal is very busy, taking a call here.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Here is the “lanai” set up with the Mk 1 side walls, which weren’t that great. I later replaced them with a proper sidewall kit, which was important as the weather soon turned cold and wet.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, there was no slow down with activities. Straight into camping with Scouts, they kids got to climb the tower and shoot bow and arrow.

Tower / Putnam / 2024

Archery Range / Putnam / 2024

The elves were up to their usual shenanigans as well.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Of course, one of the most missed things was the digging pit. Which they promptly got yelled at for making it too deep.

Moment / Clay County / 2024

I smoked a few turkeys for Yule dinner.

Clay County / United States / 2024

Presents on the lanai.

Clay County / United States / 2024

New Year’s Fireworks with friends and neighbors.

Clay County / United States / 2025

January brought more cold days.

Document / Clay County / 2025

We had given notice to the tenants to move out, but it would still be a little while before they were out and we could move back into the house.

More homeschooling and book work, but there was still camping with the Scouts. Alan and Jarek went to a winter campout that actually had snow!

Camping / Decatur / 2025

February brought Evan’s birthday party and a pinata for the kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Late February brought animals. Baby chicks and preparation for dairy goats.

Landscape / Clay County / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

Randal inspects the neighborhood Tom.

Clay County / United States / 2025

March brought the goats!

March also brought the Pinewood Derby for the younger kids.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Arya and Evan work on their cars.

Clean Off / Clay County / 2025

Arya sits with randal while they watch the races.

Clean Off / Clay / 2025

Garrett worked to build his own car at the lego table.

The end of March also brought back our house! The tenants were out April 1st, so it was time to pull our belongings out of storage!

Building / Middleburg / 2025

April

April brought boxes, boxes, and more boxes. And furniture assembly, and all the other assemblies.

Alan and Jarek went to the Sun N Fun airshow with the Scout Troop.

Portrait / Lakeland / 2025

Garrett thought that the empty boxes were the best toys!

Goats doing Goat things.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan got into soccer again, doing his favorite thing, running around!

Seashore / Clay County / 2025

Baby goats!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Garrett feed the baby goats

Portrait / Clay County / 2025

We added a couple goslings to our collection!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Jarek earned his Tenderfoot rank.

Jarek Kekoa Johnson & Andy McDonald (T892 Scoutmaster)

More boxes await!

Wood / Clay County / 2025

Randal helps with the chicken feed!

Clay County / United States / 2025

Evan and Arya complete another year of Cub Scouts and move up in rank.

Logan (Pack 950 Cub Scouts) / Clay

Jackie Considine, Arya Audrey Johnson & Meagan Audrey Fawcett

June brought more projects. Alan began work on the mobile chicken tractor. Garrett helps to assemble it.

Clay County / United States / 2025

Clay County / United States / 2025

A visit to the lake with family!

Unfortunately, afterwords Alan picked up some bug and got sick for a few days.

Chickens and Geese all grown up!

Chicken / Clay County / 2025

The end of June and first part of July, Alan and Jarek went to Woodruff Scout Camp.

Dining / Union / 2025

It was a great time and a lot of fun! Jarek learned a lot and got to knock out a lot of rank requirements and earn several merit badges.

Arya gets some snuggles in with the goats.

Vehicle / Clay County / 2025

Randal celebrates his second birthday with a rice krispi cake, as is tradition. Garrett is there to help him blow out the candles!

Garrett Rowan Johnson / Clay County

And that brings us up to August! We are mostly moved in, but still have a bunch of stuff to go through. We’ve been working on sorting out stuff that is too small or no longer wanted. Fortunately, we are finally able to age out of some baby clothes!

Alan has been working on several geeky IT projects, including moving the website hosting to a new server and getting all of the photos cataloged and accessible. That project is also moving forward, now that there is a little bit of breathing space.

I still have many posts from the trip to go back and catch up on. I am going to make a point to get some of those published out here by sheer force of will, so expect to see dribs and drabs of those now that some of this administrative overhead is done.

We are also gearing up for our next year of homeschooling, which will be a bit less exciting than last year!

Scouts is getting ready to start as well, and Arya will be moving up to the big Scout Troop later this year, so she will get to do more camping and activities as well.

Meagan is on the hunt for a buck to breed our goats again to refresh their milk, so that will be a new experience for us as well.

We have the chickens set up in a pastured rotational grazing, and that seems to be working out. They are almost all laying eggs now. We got some baby turkeys as well, and that has been quite the adventure. They are a bit different than chickens and have some definite opinions on where they want to be!

I hope you enjoyed this update. I’m looking forward to getting more updates out about our adventures soon!