An American Homestead

This weekend it rained…and rained and well…rained. Instead of fretting over the culverts getting washed out, the muddy driveway that I would probably get stuck in and a million other things, I decided to try to bring some normality back to my life for a brief while. We got Lakota Friday and she spent the weekend. We spent time with Amanda, watched some movie about a man and a magick toy shop (I was finishing a crochet project for my friend Don and was barely watching the movie.) I have no clue what the name of it was. At home, we crocheted and Chris and Lakota played cards. Lakota got a good lesson in herbalism when she was stung by a wasper and got juniper berries and a dirt dauber’s nest crushed up in spit and put on the sting. Yesterday I made some wonderful soup and after we ate we all laid down and took a mid afternoon nap. That is the first time I have done that in I cannot even remember how long. I think I have only done it twice in two years. IT was NICE. Chris and Lakota got up and I saw them venture out towards the pond. I went back to sleep for another hour or so. I crocheted some more when I got up, cleaned some on the house and even managed to pack up all of my inside altar items (rocks, animal parts, skins and such). I labeled the boxes as Chris packed up the photo albums and cookbooks. We got some of the enamel antique cookware packed as well. It was a lazy weekend and I did nothing spectacular. We went by the farm on the way to take Lakota home. It was nice, everything was just nice pulling into the driveway. I will be glad when the next two weeks pass and hope it is quickly! We took Lakota home and amazingly made it back up our driveway. The dogs slept outside last night and we had a very peaceful night. I am thankful for that. This morning we barely made it out to the road. The culverts are both washed out, there is about 4 inches of mud in most areas. It is just a mess. Sliding sideways across a rocky culvert over a flooded stream is not a relaxing moment in ones life. Hopefully it will not be much longer before we can drive out of there for the last time.

Hazel offered us $3500 to be gone in 30 days. We did not accept it. (Not sure if I posted that earlier or not, she did it last week) Her sister Gladys from GA died last week and they buried her here in TN, but not in the family cemetery which is odd, but I heard her and Jimmy did not get along and she was not thriled he was buried there so who knows. No one hung out at Hazel’s, spent the ngiht with her or time with her or anything, which again is odd but that only leaves her a few nephews by marriage, the rest of her family is gone.

Meanwhile… Here are a few pics.

The Farm House looking up the steps to the porch (and I LOVE those steps!)

Side view of house

Near the 1st Branch

Spring and Branch

Well I have done everything that I know to do in regards to making a final decision on things. I have an attorney who specializes in land deals, he is honestly the best in the county and was the DA for almost a quarter of a century. I feel good about my attorney’s abilities and knowledge. I have consulted more people on this decision than I can even remember, but took notes for each one. I talked to the neighbors down there as I think that is important because they live there, know the area and are not trying to sell a farm to me. I have consulted clergy. I have prayed about it. I have consulted family, friends, co-workers who know me, and even the signs. I have talked to 3 agents from different places, two of which have no vested interest in this decision or should I say, will not be making anything off of my decision. I have consulted tax records, old utility records, surrounding land records, insurance information. I have researched things, I have made list after list of cost, budget, possible scenarios that could come up. I have tried to cover all areas and make a knowledgeable decision. I have come to the conclusion that…..

I am tired.

Seriously, I am mentally exhausted over all of this. But I am glad that I am not going into this situation blindly like I did before. I can only hope we are making the right decision. I know that things will come up, I know there will be struggles. Those things happen in any normal every day life for everyone. With the economy like it is and the world like it is, struggles and such are a given. The place will take some work for awhile to get things in order. I mean a place cannot be left to the elements for 10 or so years without needing some work when someone decides to bring it back to life again. BUT… the work is mostly cosmetic work. Painting, replacing some glass, cleaning, fixing a board here and there, replacing the mantle and such. There are a few major things like the chimneys will have to be looked at and repaired by professionals before next Fall, the back porch has one area of roof that needs replaced and then the porch below it replaced (Don and Chris can knock it out in a weekend), The Spring needs cleaned out, the root cellar needs a top on it and a door. But the foundation is in good shape, the roof does not leak and the tin is OK, just needs a paint job. So structurally, the home is good, it just needs a wee bit of a face lift. (Like that poor hideous haint blue in the kitchen covered with something a bit more neutral that will match my mam-maws red trim enamel table and hoosier cabinet).

I have a loving, supportive family. Two wonderful daughter’s a perfect fiancé, 3 precious grandkids. I have Don, Jimmy’s brother, that I love dearly. I have my Cherokee friend Joanna who has been my best friend forever. That is about it. BUT…I have desire, hope, drive, determination, a dream that I crave deeply. I have the heart to go after that dream and continue it. I have it in me still to not shy away from hard work and struggles. In all that….I have a whole heck of a lot.

So, we have decided 100% on the farm. We feel it is the best for us and we love it, we just honestly LOVE that old farm.

I have meetings set up today to go over and finalize paperwork. I have taken the advice of folks here and turned that over to those writing things and I will spare the final details but I will say some of the advice was very useful and I appreciate it dearly. I am getting a good deal on the farm…I feel….and the way it is set up, I am secure, the seller is secure and the payments are fair and not bad at all. I am purchasing the entire 14.75 acres.

So we start anew from here. The thing with Hazel is still looming over our heads. I am going to continue to make my payments to her and continue as is there, while we get the old farm house ready for us to move in. We do plan to sit down this weekend and set a date to call it quits and walk away. I have several options beyond that. I can actually take her to court just for the land payments back as I have cancelled checks and receipts for all of those and no land to show for it. So I have options. But we have to move forward as much as possible. Don is going to plow up a garden space for me in the next few weeks so I can have the garden this year.

I have until the 15th to make my final decision (which is made) and sign the papers to legally get the ball rolling. The proposed closing is April 1st, but we can close sooner if we desire. We will see.

I already checked on the taxes and it is zoned agriculture of course and the taxes are affordable and relatively low as far as county taxes go.

The land does have a lot of road frontage, 400-500 feet, I would have to check the paper again to make sure. There is a large creek at the back of the land, large meaning deep and about 40 foot wide in some areas. The land is flat and was all crop land at one time with the exception of the back five acres that was a field for livestock. The only hill is the one the house sits on and it is slight. The old man that lived there most of his life told me those two tracks were a bit more valuable than the ones beside it because the Spring has been tested many times, is clear of bacteria and has never once in the hundred years he has knowledge of the history of the farm ever gone dry. Plus it has 3 branches on it, two of which do not run dry, one is seasonal.

I just want to make sure I am not making a stupid mistake again and want to well….not get scr**ed again by being too trusting and well….”gullible”.

As far as Amanda’s goes. She lives in Athens, we live in the country in between Athens and Etowah. I drive by her house every day going to work. Chris has been babysitting Perrin at her house every day for a month or so now. Before all of this started, we worked together and she brought Perrin to my house and we rode back to work together every day. I helped her get a better job in Chattanooga and so I drop Chris off now until this land thing is settled. Other than that I would be the same distance from either of my daughters, about 10 miles, which is not but a few miles more than I am right now. This farm is just a few miles from my current house and only a few miles from my Amish friends.

Amanda just called and told me she has really thought about her situation and she does intend to stay where she is, continue to rent and save as much money as she can for now. She will re-look at her situation in a year. I think perhaps there may be a chance she could get a nice modular and put it on the farm, save on payments and we could still live close to each other…but I am not going to give that much consideration right now as it is a maybe and far down the road. I cannot rely on that and if it happens great, if not….so be it. You know…putting the horse before the cart type thing!

The situation with Hazel is just like a pool of water in the middle of a cow pasture. It is just growing nothing but flesh eating bacteria on us. We are preparing to make a legal move very soon because we just simply cannot wait forever on this. We have to end it for our sanity. A million words in this post could not describe what we are going through mentally over all of this. We HAVE to make the decision to move on and follow through with it. Even if we have to walk away with not a penny…it has to end before we both lose our minds over it. BUT…..if we walk away with nothing….it is likely we will get a court injunction to take the house with us, piece by piece. (Another story I will save for another day)

Right now, I am tired from all of this. It is hurting my health. It has stressed me so badly and pushed me to my limits of patience. All I want is some peace, I want to KNOW where we are going to live our life. I am too old for so much chaos. I know what type of lifestyle I want and what will make me happy….which is not much. I just have allowed myself to be hurt by being too trusting and not thinking everything through clearly on major decisions. Yeah if I had it to do over again, I would have still told Jimmy yes the second time he asked me to buy his farm, but….when he said please go pick you out a place for your house and let’s get started on it….I would have said…I appreciate your love and kindness…but we need to get the paperwork in order first. Regret is a pain in the ar*e and one cannot imagine how much pain this has given me since October. So this time…I can see a dream, I can see a future, I can see happiness, a life I can love and find that peace…..but I am scared to death and want to make sure that this time it is right and I won’t build a simple home for myself again, only to have it ripped from me again in a year and me out looking for another home….because I know….I cannot handle all of this again. I just can’t.

On the wood usage, yeah that is a lot. More than we should have used. We really would not have used half that much I don’t think if we had been able to completely finish the house before Winter. We had no inside walls or siding on the outside and the insulation was not finished underneath the floor, so yeah….it was cold and the house was not finished. That is with a fire going almost 24 hours a day on most day as well, because Chris stays home all day and keeps Perrin. Another factor was the stove we got from Freecycle. It was sufficient for our needs more so because it was free…lol….but the door did not fasten tightly on it. It worked and we have made it through this far, but we will look at other options for next winter.

As far as surveys and such. The 15 acres is actually two tracks with the one the house is on being around 9 acres and the other track being around 6 acres. Both have been surveyed and marked. I think we are going to try to work something out in regards to all that. The owner is very open to things and is really a neat guy. He is excited that we are considering things again and will do what we can to keep the house intact and as original as possible. This farm is one of the original Mayfield’s farms actually and the house and barn were built in 1909. So I really do appreciate the advice in this thread and I do understand fully it is in no way to be misconstrued as legal advice. I do take it seriously though, with al we have been through and plan to make sure my attorney is behind every move I make with this farm.

AND….with that being said, I received a call from Amanda Friday night and there is a chance she can still get the house she loved. Long story, but it looks like there is a way to get the car in a loan in my name with the same payments, free up her credit and she can get the VA loan. She can make the payments on her own, it would be easier of course if I was splitting them with her but, well…..the final outcome will be in the next few weeks for both of us and you all will be some of the first people to know as I will update here.

So speaking of the farm. My attorney called me a few names a few weeks ago that bothered me but were true. One was “gullible” the other was “too giving”. With that in mind, I am having him look over everything I do legally because yes….I am too gullible and I know that. So much so that I once paid a woman more at a yard sale than what she was asking for some antique chairs, because I knew they were worth more and felt like I was cheating her by paying her asking price. That is just a fraction of the stupid things I have done in my life like that. So with the attorney overseeing my every move I decided to not take a chance on the farm either. Yeah I loved the old house but was my love for it making me overlook another hundred thousand dollars in repairs? So, we went down there again on Sunday and spent a few hours walking the land again, taking a good look around again and I was still not satisfied with my perception of things because all I could see was my old furniture in this old house and a fire in the fireplace or the kids in the branch. So we called Jimmy’s brother, Don, who has remained a good friend to us throughout this entire mess and stepped up to help us finish our current house when Jimmy was dying of cancer. So we picked up 2 of the grandkids, grabbed a picnic lunch and headed back to the farm to wait for Don to arrive. He knew exactly where it was because apparently everyone in this county knows where the old Jimmy Mayfield Farm was.

Well when he got there we spent more and more hours there. He walked the ground, checked out the branch and Spring, root cellar, foundation, chimneys, house, porch, door frames, plumbing pipes and electrical boxes and such. He knows us, knows how we live, how we want to live, and knows Amanda and that entire situation. He is a good man, about 76 I think, and his advice to me is priceless in my opinion. He said there are a million opportunities for us there but it will require some work, which to him is nothing because he knows we are not afraid of hard work. He said it would not take a lot of money to fix the house up, it is livable with just a few windows replaced and the locks on the doors fixed, cleaning and some paint and all. A few weeks will have it in good shape. There is still some work to do beyond that, but it will be fine and the good thing is Spring is upon us, so we will have some time to quadruple check the fire places and chimneys and things before Fall. The root cellar can be done and used in one day. The Spring can be cleaned, fixed up and ready for fresh butter in a weekend. It will take a bit longer, several days to get a good place in the barn for the chickens and all that. We will also build a woodshed. The toilet is usable, we would keep a five gallon bucket of water in the bathroom to fill up the toilet and be able to flush it (unless we just decide to use the outhouse and turn the bathroom into a closet…LOL). Anyway, he said it needs a bit of work and love but that in knowing us and seeing the home, we are a pretty darn good match. He told me that I really need to do what I think in my heart would make me happy because I would always regret it and wonder for the rest of my life if I don’t.

He left and we let the kids play in the branch and on the rocks for awhile, Chris and Lakota ventured through the woods while me and Perrin caught crawdads. It was nice. I have until the 15th to sign the papers on the farm and the closing is April 1st. I am going to take until the 15th to make my decision for 100% certainty, after the attorney has checked out everything and all. I am not sure if I mentioned, but the farm with the 15 acres was appraised at $157,000 less than 5 years ago, so I feel I am getting a pretty good deal on it. And as a side note, there is some old timber, cedar, pine and some hardwoods that can be sold if need be. AND….while there yesterday, we found some old Maples that are perfect for tapping. I took a few pics on my cell phone that are not that super great. I am taking some more pics of the inside and the Spring and such with the camera in the next day or so. Thought I would share these though.

The house from the road

again

standing in front of the house looking down towards the Spring

Perrin playing in the branch

Had to take this one, one small section of the foundation

Perrin wasted no time in shedding the shoes and finding water

As for other buyers, the only other one interested was a man from Florida who apparently buys places all over the country, fixes them up a bit and re-sells them for more money that what he has in it. The seller was hoping to sell the place to someone local and was thrilled when he found out we were the couple from the newspaper and wanted to live on the farm the way he had initially wanted to before his health got so bad. I did check around on the connecting lots. The farm was originally over 360 acres and he bought it, broke it up and lots and sold them. He kept this last lot for himself for his dream. the land right beside the house sold for $9000 and acre 2 years ago and the land on the other side of the lot and across the road sold for $9000 and acre as well last year. The only reason the two lots I want did not sell is because they were not for sale. They are the last two lots of the farm and he kept them for himself until now.

All I know is that was the appraisal and I have a copy that my attorney has reviewed so, beyond that I cannot explain why or answer as to why, all I can go by is the appraisal and what it says and what others paid for the land beside it the past few years. But yes, I am gullible and cannot deny that, that is why I am having my attorney look at every piece of paper I am handed, having someone who has been certified as an electrical contractor and also built several home for himself and others, who has had over 50 years experience, wisdom and knowledge of things to look at things for me, it is why I am seeking advice from everyone from my clergy to the man who grew up there, neighbors, strangers, family, friends, co-workers, bankers, lawyers and more so that I will feel a bit more secure in my decision knowing I did not make a rash decision without thinking things out or having accurate information.

I think that perhaps I have given a bad description of the home and such. I know it is one hundred years old, but it is far from needing to be ripped down, demolished and destroyed. It is not in THAT bad of shape. I know that is hard to tell when you have vague pictures and a description form someone else. I will say that we looked at lots of other places within 10 miles of this one, farms at the foot of the mountain. Raw land was priced 7500-15,000 and acre, depending on how many hills, etc there were, mountains, water sources on the land and such. The price of the farm is very comparable to the other farms/land we looked at and better priced than some. We looked at 10 acres at the base of Starr Mountain that had a mountain stream and it was mostly steep mountain land that was only a few thousand less than this farm.

Do you think $107,000 is too much for the 15 acre farm? Who else would I need to consult? I have checked the appraisal, the purchases of connecting land, the neighbors, the agents, the attorney, and more….is there someone I am overlooking? Or something I am overlooking?

Well being under all of this stress and the entire experience has just been an emotional rollercoaster for me and Chris. I don’t think any amount of posts here or words used in the posts could adequately describe what we have went through emotionally this year. We were all set to move into the place with my daughter and something kept bothering me. I love my daughter and I know beyond any doubt that things would work out with us living side by side. The only problem was, something I was dealing with secretly and because of the happiness in my daughter and relief in Chris’ heart of us actually moving and putting this behind us, I began to hide a lot of inner regret, pain and worry. It had nothing to do with my daughter or us living so closely, her ripping me off, future fights, nothing like that. I went back over to the house and felt like maybe I could find my dream there in those 4 acres of woods, the garage being turned into a house was almost putting me into a panic. It was just too modern for me. Yeah I know that sounds ridiculous, but seriously, I found myself becoming depressed even more about it all. I hid it from everyone and decided it was best that I just do what was best for the family and give up on parts of my dream.

I went to one of my favorite places in the mountains a few weeks ago, Santeetlah Creek. I spent time sitting beneath a tree that I fell in love with many, many years ago. I cried about this entire situation. I prayed and asked that someone take over this fate I have been dealt and just please make sure that things work out for the best for us. If the house was meant to be, then it would go through smoothly and our life would become a bit easier. When I left that tree, that creek and we walked all those miles back to the car, I cold not get my mind off of that old farm. I fell in love with that farm and had been laying awake at night crying because I knew it had everything in that 14.5 acres that could make my dreams come true and more. But we walked away from it in favor of trying to do what was best for everyone. I knew there was a man in Florida that was interested in the farm and had intentions of buying it as soon as he got back to Tennessee. He wanted to fix it up and sell it for more money because it was listed at a VERY good price. So I knew we lost it and it was breaking my heart. But I turned it over to higher powers who know much more than I do about things like this. If we were doing the right thing, then it would happen with ease and I would know, even if I had to continue to hide a lot of my sadness.

The closing is March 16th. Amanda had been approved for the loan and she had started packing up her library. I started preparing by packing up my library as well. Wednesday, Amanda got a phone call as soon as she got home from work. She was outside talking to whoever it was for an hour. I figured it was finalizing everything and such. She came into the house and collapsed in tears. She was sobbing uncontrollably. The loan officer called and said they had made a mistake with her loan. She had bought two cars last October. She bought herself one and was tired of me driving a broken down 20 year old Buick. She got me a car in her name and I just make the payments on it to her and pay the insurance. She did it out of kindness and her love for me. Well, when they ran her loan they saw she had the two cars on it. She explained I pay for one and they said it was no problem. All we had to do was send in the cancelled checks to show I make the payment. So we did. The loan went through. Then the phone call came telling her there was a mistake. We had to send in 12 months of cancelled checks. There is not 12 months of checks because we have only had the cars for 5 months. The loan was denied. I went yesterday to get a loan to pay my car off so it would come off of her line of debt. I was approved for the loan and everything, but the interest was high, payments high and right before I was about to leave to go sign the papers we all three sat down and had a talk. It was stupid to pay that car off and get insurance in my name at this time. The payments would double, as well as the insurance. With the economy like it is and all, it made no sense to do that to us. At 230pm yesterday, we decided to not fight it, we are accepting the denial. Amanda is going to try to find her a bigger place to rent, as her house is terribly small. We decided to just sit tight until this thing is settled with Hazel. But we also talked about it in detail. We cannot wait forever. Our life is on hold right now, we can do nothing at our house but sleep and sit and stare at each other. It has to come to an end, we have to KNOW it will end soon and out lives can once again move forward.

We were talking about it all late yesterday evening and the old farm came into the conversation. We decided if things do not get settled with Hazel by April 1st, we were just going to try to walk away with whatever she will give us. That will still give us time to have a garden and maybe get the pigs too. We hoped that we could find a place like that old farm to move to, put all of this horrible nightmare behind us and start living happily, living our dream, once again. I looked at Chris and had tears in my eyes. I am tired. I just want it to end so I can actually smile and not have to force one to come out through hidden tears. For some reason I just picked up the phone and called the agent that has listed the farm. I knew it was gone but maybe they had something else. She answered right away and informed me the farm was still available. She said the owner was so upset when we decided not to get the farm. He told her when he met us he just fell in love with us, that we were going to live his dream, the dream he had for that old house and barn, Spring, root cellar, everything. But, he got too old and too sick to be able to live that dream and knowing that someone else would do that at her dream farm made him very happy. He was sad we decided to go elsewhere. She said he was willing to work out whatever needed to be done if we ever changed out minds.

So we talked about it and it was like a spark came back into our lives that has been missing for awhile now. We felt some relief, excitement, happiness. I believe fully that this was my sign, that things happened as they did for a reason, because I would NOT find happiness at the other place because it was just a little more advanced than what I desire. 14.5 acres if a LOT more land than 5 acres. We asked the agent to develop a contract for a lease purchase. She will be emailing it to me this morning. She is going to wave her commission for 6 months so we won’t have to pay a down payment. The owner wants to give us ample time to be able to get a conventional loan to purchase the farm so he said he would do a 36 month lease purchase. The contract will address what will occur in the event of his death. The price is reasonable. We have the option to buy straight out in a month or we can wait the 36 months. Everything we have faced and dealt with in this last experience will be addressed in that contract. They want me to take the contract to my attorney and have him look over it fully to make sure every concern is covered and things are in order. I pay half the cost to the title company, the seller pays the other half. I make one payment at closing and nothing more.

It is not a done deal yet and I am going to take my time with this. I will have my attorney go through that contract entirely word for word and study every period, comma and even the blank spaces between words. I cannot get screwed again, it will kill me, literally.

I know it sounds crazy to most people, but I am just not made of the same things most people are made of I suppose. When I walked into that old farm house, when I sat by the Spring, when that old man stopped by that grew up in the house and told us stories of everything he did as a child on the farm, we walked the acreage, the barn is perfect for us, cedar trees over a hundred years old, the old concrete cellar that man’s mother used every year to store food for her family, the pear tree, everything, it felt so right, so good, like home. I fell in love with it. I sat on the concrete porch and could feel the presence of my Mother, my Mam-maw there smiling. I loved that place, everything about it I loved. It is me. Just as a nice modern home is my daughter, just as some people like Ford and some like Chevy…..it is just different and it is not in me to desire fancy little, or big things. I like old, I like character, I like the adventure, the work, the passion, the dreams, the plans, the entire lifestyle of carrying water, canning, planting, farm animals, building, outhouse, wood stove cookery, cutting wood, preparing for Winter…I LOVE IT ALL. It may be hard to understand, but this is not something new or quirky in me. It was born there. I was this way as a child. When we got indoor plumbing and the outhouse was torn down and filled in, I would go to the woods to use the bathroom because I hated the indoor plumbing. I did not like light switches, air conditioning, heat pumps, all of that and certainly no microwaves and TV’s and all that either. It is not something that started a year ago, it has been ME for 47 years. I cannot explain it. My siblings are certainly not like this. My Mother was, my Mam-maw was, but that is it. However, I am not ashamed of it and have no regrets or apologies for the way I desire and crave to live.

So, who knows how things will go, there are twists and turns everywhere I look now. But we plan to review the contract, we hope to be settling on the farm, OUR farm, in OUR beautiful 100 year old house in the next month or two. What an adventure. I will certainly keep everyone updated and I truly thank each of you for your care, concern and good wishes.

Thanks so much for the advice. I plan to get the car out of her name later on in the year. I am paying extra on it and have it down to the blue book value at least.

If the farm was meant to be, it will be. I talked to her about it just a little while ago. I could not ask for a better daughter, she is perfect to me and I love her so very much. I am thankful she is no longer in the service and in Iraq and is home and enjoying her life with her son. We will be OK and things will work out for both of us I am sure.

Well I figured I would give an update, even though there is nothing much to update. We have not heard anything, they just sit there while my money gets drained at the attorney’s office on phone calls and letters asking what they plan to do.

The closing is March 16th at the other home. I am in some ways looking forward to moving, as I won’t have to sit stagnant and wait for nothing. I can actually DO things for a change. Right now I just get so frustrated. The Winter has been a little hard on us. There were tons of things we had planned to do since October and they just never got done, as there was no sense in doing it, especially after we learned we were not getting any land at all. The driveway has just been bear to get up and down. You start on a hill, go down into a small valley, through a few fields then back up another hill. So either way, we are going up and down hills. There is no gravel, so when it rains, it is just one big muddy mess. This has made is so hard on us at times. In addition to that, we really could have used that inside walling and the siding on the outside. We wanted to insulate our water system as well and finish the root cellar. Non of which got done so basically the house has just turned into a place where we sleep. I am pretty much looking forward to starting on my cabin at the new place and getting into the garden, planting and getting the pigs. My grandson is excited about the pigs and my granddaughter is looking forward to learning a new skill in the Fall.

Speaking of, Lakota had a full blown breakdown over this entire thing last week. She is 10 and was there to help build the house and it has become such a big part of her life. She loves staying there and I guess I never really realized just how hard it was on her with all this going on. I know it has been so hard on me and there are days that I cannot go long without hiding somewhere to cry. I try to stay strong in front of the grandkids and even my daughters and I never thought how it was bothering Lakota so much. She started crying the other day and just broke down, poor little thing. In between sobs she was talking of not wanting to give up the house and how much it meant to her, the memories she had developed there and the plans she had for the future. I talked to her about it for a long time. She had already decided weeks ago that she is going to be having a non electric day at her own home. She misses it when she is not with me. So she plans to cut off everything possible one day a week at her home and experience life without electricity there. I hope she intends on doing this for many years to come. She told me she thought when we moved we would have to go back to electricity and that was just really depressing her. I told her that was not my intention and she was thrilled to learn that I intend to live as non electric as possible from here on out. The cabin will have zero electricity in it and things will be as they are now. She can come over and spend the summer with me in the cabin and things will be fine. She felt better after spending the weekend with me and we talked about plans for the cabin. I am glad this way of life has made a good impression on her and she desires in this modern world, to experience this lifestyle with me.

As for the lifestyle, I have gotten a few emails requesting I post more about just that and I think that is a good idea, as I intend to continue living this way, regardless of where fate takes me. One thing I would tell people if choosing to live this way is, cut wood, and then cut more wood. When you have cut so much wood you think your arms will fall off, get a grip and cut more. If you heat with the wood and cook with wood, one thing is certain. You can never predict the weather months in advance. You should be prepared and what is not burned this year, will certainly be burned the next. We cut about 5 cords of wood this year. All resources, books and elderly folks told us that we would need 3-5 cords of wood. So we did 5. We have had some very cold spells this winter. If I had it to do over again, I would have cut 7 cords at least. There is nothing scarier than to look in the woodshed and see a half a cord of wood, knowing the weather for a week will be lows in the teens and highs below 40. Wood is your life source and without it well….you will freeze, plain and simple. When cutting the wood, get the whole family involved. We made picnic days this summer that involved wood cutting. Everyone came over, I provided the food, we cut wood and hauled it to the shed, ate, laughed and then roasted marshmallows with the kids that night with the brush left over. My Amish friends have wood cutting parties. The family has the big logs ready and they spend all day baking cookies and making hot cocoa and such. Everyone in the community that is able will come to help cut up, chop and stack the winter wood supply. The family provides food for everyone. The next week, another family will do the same thing. It makes it easier on everyone and it is a good feeling when everyone helps.

We are nearing the end of Winter and we have about a half a cord of wood left. We have a few trees that we have cut down, one a very large Oak, that we were going to cut up and get in the woodshed for next Winter. That way it would have a bit of time to season. But I won’t think about that for now. The wood is stacked on the front porch and we have been able to keep fairly warm this Winter. This time around though, we will start cutting wood a few days a month beginning in Spring as soon as we are settled. We don’t have a large community to have a wood cutting party, but with the family involved, we should get those 7 cords cut before needed next Winter.

Amanda has already put the earnest money down and mailed out her loan packet fed x yesterday. Pretty soon you will sign in to that property and it will say “sold”. I drove by there again and saw some of the neatest things around the property that I missed before so I can honestly say I am finally looking forward to it. I an anxious to move and get busy on gardens and pig pens and making a home and all that. There is a large flat land area at the back part of the woods that if cleared could be home to a needy donkey. LOL. The neighbors out there seem to be very nice and my director’s parents live in the neighborhood as well. Our agent that showed us the house lives just 2 miles from it.

I know Hazel has received the letter as we got our copy on Saturday, so we are just waiting for a response from them and I am trying to decide in my head if they counter offer, just how low I will go to get it all settled. I cannot let it go on much longer or we will be losing more money on legal fees than we can afford to lose. So hopefully she will just write us a check and tell us to get off her land.