New Closing Date

Is October 28. Spooky! 8^)

Ok, big problems lately with buying the house. We won't be closing on October 3rd, I'm pretty sure, unless there is some sort of miracle. However, we are not out of the game yet.
We had financing before, but then they decided that it was a "mobile home" on a foundation instead of a "manufactured home" and told us they can't finance it. So we are working on financing with another bank or two.
We should know within a week or so if we are getting the house or not.
This has been an emotional roller coaster for me and combined with that and the gloomy weather, and sadness over one of the bears I'd been watching online being shot dead, I'm a little concerned that maybe I need to up my meds. Today I didn't feel like doing anything and layed on the couch until it was time for my VT to come over. I would like to just dig a hole and not come out until I know what's going on with my life so I can get on with it!
I have schools to visit, Viola rental to work out, propane tanks to order, electric companies to contact, news papers to call, etc.  So much!
And everyone keeps asking me, "when are you moving?" and in my head all I can think is, "I wish I knew!" I hate feeling like I have to explain the whole story to people.
Plus I have to give a talk on Thursday and I am not very prepared yet. I should have worked on it today but I really had a hard time caring.

If you were one of those that followed me to the black bears in the north woods of Minnesota to watch the birth of the twin cubs, Faith and Jason, there is news today that their one year old sister was hunted last week and killed. Her name was Hope. During the summer one of the cubs, Jason, was also injured by coyotes and died from his injuries. This leaves Lily and Faith left on this earth.  I learned so much about black bears from this little bear family and have grown quite fond of them. I am very sad to see that the family dynamics have changed and that the study of how a momma bear mothers two cubs of different ages. It was a once in a life time opportunity, because only the special circumstances of their separation during mating season allowed Lily to become pregnant, but then after they were reunited she mothered Hope again and did it all in front of a den camera.  That opportunity now is lost.

I will post again when I know more about the details on the house. In the mean time wish me luck on my talk!

Change the World

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”–Margaret Mead

Buildings

On Friday, while the kids were in school, I took a trip by myself up to the new house. I wanted to check out the schools in the area, for one. I also wanted to find out what the situation was with the mailbox and the nearest fire hydrant.
It took about 40 minutes to get up there. I timed it from Joel's work, just to see how long he would need to commute each day. That's not bad. We had looked at some homes that were at least 60 minutes.
When I got up at the place there was nobody there, so I pulled into the driveway and turned around. On the way out I opened my windows so I could listen to the frogs and bug noises. I drove really slow and looked for trails in the field parts that led to the woods. I saw quite a few and took pictures of deer prints. Can you see one?

I decided to drive around to the back of the property and see who was farming the land behind us. While I was driving, I found a school bus and followed it to the elementary school the kids would go to if we stick with the school the neighborhood is assigned to. I'm not sure if I want to do that, because they only have an elementary school and a high school and the sixth grade and up go to high school. To me, this is not a good idea. I feel that kids that young should not be mixed with older teenagers, for many reasons.  I may choose to drive my kids about 8 miles to a different school district and have them attend a district with a middle school. I have to do some more investigating on that.

Back to my story....

After that I went back to the house and decided to take pictures of the buildings for my dad. He'd called earlier in the week and was asking about them.
So I got out and took some pictures...

This is the new front porch...

This is the wood play set in the back yard....

This is the side view of the house, looking south....

Then from that spot I turned and took a picture facing north, with the rest of our lawn and the farmer's bean fields....

The four extra buildings have been moved up against the woods. They have wood floors so they can be moved around the property. They all could use a new paint job, as you can see.  The shed...

The bus stop shelter....

The cottage shed (my hobby building)...

OK, so as I was moving down the row taking pictures of these buildings I could hear something big in the woods moving around. I thought it was a deer that I might be disturbing.  After taking this shot above, I noticed a face in the woods, to the left of the building,  peeking out at me (it's not in this shot). FREAKED ME OUT! It was a big red dog that had been stalking me! I didn't see his ears (I just noticed his eyes and nose), so I don't know what breed it was. I hope it was domestic. I started yelling, "Get! Go on! Get!" It didn't move. I kept yelling and made a move towards it, to which it slowly turned and left (odd). After that I kept my eyes on the woods and aimed my camera towards the green house frame and snapped a shot before walking back to my car.
That scared me a LOT!
Here's the bad shot I got of the green house...

It looks like the buildings have all been sitting by the woods for a couple of years, they have branches on the roofs and plants growing all around them.  They will have to be lifted out, painted and fixed up. I fully intend to use the first three buildings.

Next week we will be visiting our new branch and will come back to the property and check out the woods to see what we can tell about what I saw, and what is living in there. I think we will be bringing Josh's birthday present, (a BB rifle).

Deacon's Bench

Many years ago I got the idea in my head that I simply MUST have a deacon's bench. One year Joel told me that he knew how to make furniture and so I started begging him to make me one. I must have bugged him too much because one year for Mother's Day I got an I.O. U. for one hand made deacon's bench.
I've waited
and waited
and waited
I've had three children since then.
No deacon's bench.
The last year I have wanted one more than ever. Mostly for my children to store their winter hats and mittens in, since the puppy has been chewing on them. I thought it would look so nice by my door and the kids could sit on it and take their things off.
I stopped waiting for Joel to work his wood work magic and this week I found one I simply couldn't pass up. I bought myself a deacon's bench!
And I love it!
It's going to go so nicely in the new house.
Now I need a rustic one for the outside of my front door.... Joel!

Who Knew?

Who knew that a dog could be allergic to you? I didn't. I might have a dog that is topically allergic to either environment, dust or us! Yay. I can just see Joel's eyes rolling when I tell him this news. 15 years of special baths, pills and sprays. Its gonna be fun.
Rats. This really bums me out.

Summer..... stop.

Tomorrow is back to school! My kids get on the bus at 8:50, I have a class at 9:30.  I have a bunch of stuff to do to get them ready to get on the bus. Get their lunches bought, get their backpacks packed, the papers filled out, their outfits picked out, their pictures taken, etc. Yeah... I put it off until the last minute. I do that a lot.

Joel went through the new house with the inspector and the house looks great! No major fixes are needed, and the owners agreed to all of the fixes we requested. While he was up there, Joel found some choke cherry trees and some grape bushes. That's cool!

I find myself daydreaming a lot about the new house. Imagining us in it, the things we will do. It's fun just thinking about it. I can hardly wait until it's real.

We have been fasting for a buyer for this house. I plan to fast every Sunday until it is sold. Please keep us in your prayers for this! If we don't sell it, I will have to find work in November until we do. That's something I'm willing to do to get us into this new house. It will be worth it!  The short term sacrifices will be worth the long term benefits.

"To be an artist, to be a photographer, you have to nurture the things that most people discard." - Richard Avedon

Today the children and I talked about the many foods we would like to grow in our yard. We started with all the fruit trees we would like to plant. They thought it would be fun to grow bananas and coconuts until I told them those would never survive our Minnesota cold winters. So we settled on apples, peaches, cherries and plums.

We decided that it would be great fun to have grapes, strawberries, raspberries, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, potatoes, peas, carrots, .... maybe rhubarb and zucchini. Maybe.  Only if I have room for it.
I have a food dehydrator that my parents gave us a few years ago. I've held onto it hoping to someday have time/energy to figure it out and use it. I've always thought it would be fun to make our own fruit leather and jerky. I looooove jerky! I've done a little canning, and would like to do more. Now I will get to practice on my own foods. I am excited to play!

Joel and I have talked about different things we would like to do with the yard. I forgot to mention that the home also comes with some other buildings. One is obviously a shed for lawnmowers and tools. One we think is a little house for the kids to sit in on cold winter days waiting for the school bus. There is an uncovered green house, which right now is just a framed building in the corner of the lot, I'm not sure if we will keep/improve it or just tear it down and burn it.  And one is a cute little shed/playhouse type building with a front porch. I've claimed that one as my studio for keeping my oil paints, gardening, pottery and whatever other talents I want to work on. I am kind of excited about that building.

I am also excited to put out my hammock and never take it down again. Here, I have to worry about it being stolen or vandalized. My kids have put plastic roller skates and big wheels out in the yard for other kids to steal, and they won't. But the night I leave my hammock out in the yard you can bet it will disappear!

You can't imagine how much joy this is bringing me and how much I am relishing the freedom we will have in our new place. A lot of people have expressed to me that they are sad that we are moving, but I hope they also know how stifling this place is. How trapped I feel. How unsafe it is for my kids. How I need my freedom again! I come from space and I need space to be happy. I feel like I'm under a microscope living here with neighbors so close, with their phones in hand ready to call a manager any time you break a rule.
There is someone telling me how many cars I can have, that my company has to leave by 10 or be towed, that I can't have more than one pet, that my pet can't be more than 20 pounds, that I have to have a barn style shed, it has to match my house, it can't be bigger than 8x10.  The neighbors can look out their windows into mine. They can add onto their house within 5 feet of mine. They can take away virtually all of my yard just by adding onto their house, and there's not a thing I can do about it.  Some people are very good about living in that sort of communal situation. I admire them. I am not that kind of person. I'm so thankful that I don't have to anymore! Yippie!!!! And I'm not going to feel guilty about moving, not even a little. This home was only supposed to be temporary and it's term has come to an end. I hope that others can be happy for my family instead.

Accepted!

We got word very late last night that our offer for the home was accepted. YIPPIE!

We close on October 3rd.

The kids are excited. I am too.... and a little scared.

I'm scared of a mortgage again. I'm scared of making new friends. I'm scared of living in the middle of nowhere. But funny thing, I also am excited about them too!  I don't think I've mentioned that I also am so happy to have a basement to banish the kids to!

When we bought our first house, the previous owners had a horseshoe above the kitchen door. It was upside down. After we moved in Joel turned it right side up (did you know there's an up and down to a horse shoe? I grew up with horses and didn't know!) and told me that they were letting all the luck run out. (And being Irish, luck is something I SHOULD know about!) I always thought that was a neat sentiment.

When we visited our new house we noticed a wood structure at the end of our very long driveway, down by the road, on the property, that had two horseshoes turned right side up. I like to think they are holding all of the good luck for us!