An American Homestead

We had until May 20th to have everything removed from the property. For the record, it rained over 14 days of that 30 days. We were never able to gravel the driveway and the culverts washed out several times. There were many days we were not able to even make it up to the house to begin moving. Regardless, we were able to accomplish our task and took the final load from the property yesterday evening about 630pm.

I knew a priority needed to be removing the items we owned in the workshop and garage. We got the wood flooring from the garage. Hazel unlocked it for us and sat on the porch as we hauled the flooring away. I must add that at least a truckload of wood flooring was missing. I did not make an issue of this and simply took what was left. Hazel had no problem with us taking the wood flooring at the time, other than to say she thought we were going to leave it for her. I explained to her that initially we were going to leave the wood flooring that was in the house in an offer we had made to her, but she turned down that offer. We never stated we would give her the uninstalled wood flooring. She was OK with that and we got the flooring.

I wanted to make sure that we removed everything stored in the workshop, so that we could give her the keys and not have to bother her in moving anything else. We removed about 8-12 cedar boards that Jimmy had given to us to build a closet in the house. Jimmy sent us in his truck to his rental trailer to get the cedar boards and put them in his workshop. His intention was for us to haul them to the house and build a closet with his help. When he found out he was dying, he took 3-4 of those planks to his brother to build a cedar box to hold his ashes. When we were removing our things from the workshop, we took the boards that Jimmy gave to us and hauled them to the farm (approximately 8-12 boards). They are in the shed at our farm. After this, I made arrangements to give my daughter all of the meat from the freezer and sell the freezer to a co-worker. My daughter and I removed the meat (of which there was about 12 packs of beef, 10-12 packs of deer, 2 packs of ham and some vegetables missing from the freezer). I once more made no issue of this, as I had told Jimmy and Hazel to help themselves to the things in the freezer as they need to. I made arrangements to have the freezer picked up and for my son in law to come and get the insulation. Chris called me on my cell phone to tell me the locks had been changed and he cold not get in. I attempted to call Hazel and there was no answer. I got to her house and she was there. I knocked on the door and asked her to let us in to get our things out and she would not have to do it anymore, as I was getting everything. She said that was fine. She got a neighbor, Bill, who started putting his arm around her and calling her sweetheart a day after Jimmy died, to come down. They unlocked the workshop and my friend showed up to get the freezer. Bill and Hazel remained in the workshop as we moved the insulation out and a few boxes of quilting items. My son in law, myself, Chris and Don, Jimmy’s brother, helped load the insulation on Tim’s truck and he hauled it to his basement.

We were concentrating on moving the house and other buildings. Don helped us every day with his truck and trailer. Last week he and Chris were up there working, with Perrin our grandson, and Bill came up the hill to the house site to see what they were doing. He never spoke to Chris, but spoke to Don about his truck and asked Don if he was building a house.

As we were finishing up on taking the house down, I came across two small planters that Hazel had given to me with violets in them, when we first moved into the house. She told me they had belonged to her mother. I had no use for them and knew they were sentimental to her. I put them in my car until I could decide the best way to get them to her. On the 19th we were leaving for the evening with a load of things and I called Hazel. I told her we only had a few more trailers of things to move and the outhouse. I told her that we would have everything gone on the 20th with no problem. She asked if I had sold our wood to Don. I told her no, that Don helped us haul all of it to our farm. I told her I had the flower pots and would leave them on her porch or something when we pull out for the final time. I told her I know they were not part of the agreement but that I cannot keep them when I knew they held sentimental value to her. She told me that she was so sorry this all happened that she missed me so bad she could not stand it. I told her I was sorry it happened as well, but that it was over with and we could both go on with our lives. I agreed to call her on the 20th when we got everything moved and were leaving for the last time.

Chris and Don unloaded the trailer at the farm the morning of the 20th and I was at work. They had Perrin with them. I got a phone call about 10am from the Sheriff’s Department. He stated that Hazel’s friend had reported a theft from a building at Hazel’s and he wanted to ask me some questions about it. He asked if we had keys to the building where were had the freezer. I told him we had until the locks were changed last week. He said he and Hazel were claiming that there were 200 cedar boards in the workshop and she had sold them to him for $3000.00. He went to get them on the 20th and they were not there. They gave him my number and name and insinuated I took them. I told him that I did take cedar boards from the workshop several weeks ago. I told him there were about 8-12 cedar planks and Jimmy had given them to us. I told him we took them to our farm, if Hazel was upset about them we would put them on the trailer and bring them back. There was NEVER 200 cedar boards in that workshop….ever in the past 8 or so years. He told me he cannot tell me to take them back. I offered to let them search my farm, my transactions for the past year, take a lie detector test and whatever…even return those few boards. He said there was no need for it and he would call me back.

I called Chris and Don to let them know what was happening. They had just got the house and was setting the old chicken coop on fire. We chose to not take that down as we were running out of time and could not use the wood on anything else anyway. We moved the chickens in the rain Sunday and decided to burn the old coop as opposed to wasting time moving it. I left work and stopped by the Justice Center. The investigator was going to a funeral and could not see me. I went to the house to help Don and Chris get things done so we could meet our deadline. When I arrived at the house, I pulled in the driveway and Bill had his car blocking the gate so I could not get through. He came up to my car and began cursing at me, telling me not to burn anything up there, yelling that HE is TELLING me not to burn anything and refusing to move his car. I told him I would have to call the police if he did not move and stop harassing me, that we were trying to abide by a court order and he was preventing me from doing so. He pointed his finger in my face and continued to be belligerent. He eventually moved his car and I drove through the gate. He was coming back towards my car so I drove on up to the house and did not get out to shut the gate back. I got to the hill and told Chris and Don what just happened. I did not want my grandson there so I put him in my car to take him to my daughter’s. As I was pulling out of the gate again, Bill began yelling at me again, saying I was going to jail and calling me derogatory names in front of Perrin. I again rolled my window up and drove out of the driveway without shutting the gate, as he was standing there and I did not want a more difficult confrontation.

I took Perrin to my daughter and headed back to the house. On the way I called the police and explained that I needed an officer to come over there so I could get to the home site without being harassed to remove the rest of our things. She told me officers were already there. I told her to let them know I would be pulling in to the gate in a blue car and would wait for them to come to the gate to talk to me. They were very nice, I explained the situation, they understood I was trying my best to get things moved but was being harassed. I asked them to come up to the house site to see what we were doing and they said there was no need. The officer said that he would tell them to leave us alone, that we were trying to get things moved and for us to get the stuff moved out as peaceful as we could. He told me I needed to close the gate when we go in and out. I told him I had been doing that but that Bill prevented me from doing so by yelling in front of my grandson, who cried all the way to my daughter’s home thinking I was going to jail.

So I went up the hill and began helping Chris and Don. I had a friend come to get the culvert pipe that I had bought. We took another load of things to the farm, I remained at the house site. Bill drove up to the house site, stopped and stared at us for awhile and turned to leave. We went to Don’s for lunch. As they were taking another load to the farm, Bill’s brother pulled out behind the trailer and attempted to follow them to the farm. Don felt like it was a good idea for them to not know where we live now, so he rode a bunch of back roads until they got tired and gave up. My daughter, Amanda, came about 2pm and helped load the outhouse and we filled in the outhouse hole. We ran the tractor over the house site to level all of the ground. We took pictures, did a walk through to make sure we got everything. We had some concrete patio blocks that Jimmy gave us. They were at the back of the house and we had them down for a shower area. I was afraid to take them because I worried they would say we stole them or something, so I told Chris to leave them there.

We pulled out at 630pm and closed the gate as we left. The last load of things is on the trailer at Don’s house, just down the road from Hazel. We were so exhausted would could not even begin to unload it last night. We have decided to take it to the farm Friday and unload it, as it will be an ordeal getting the outhouse off the trailer.

So we are done, we are moved, everything is gone. I called the investigator back this morning, because I worried all night crying about that supposed cedar. He told me to not worry about it. He told me he could not tell me what to do with the planks that I took that Jimmy gave to us, that was up to me. However, after what they did yesterday to try to prevent us from moving our things, I will not take those few boards back to her without a police witness. He said he called Hazel and her friend back yesterday and told them he has no proof I took anything or that the boards existed. I am saying there was 8-12 and they are saying it was 200. He said it was a civil issue and he would not be pursuing anything criminal. He told me if someone came to him and said I tried to sell them some cedar boards for $5000 then I would have a problem, but other than that, for me not to be worrying about it. He has a file on it and he is not pursuing it any further.

I don’t know what Hazel and her friend intend to do, or what they can do. The investigator said he told her she needed to give him back his money and drop it. But who knows what they will do. That whole thing has me very upset because it is a blatant lie. There was NEVER 200 cedar boards in that workshop and they devised a lie to try to make it look like I took them. I cannot prove it but I think the entire thing yesterday was an attempt to try to make it impossible for us to meet the deadline on moving our things so she does not have to release the check to us. We have to have that money to make the down payment on our farm and we want this ordeal behind us more than anyone can imagine. We were all injured moving that house, from Perrin falling in a huge fire ant hill to me doing damage to my shoulder and back to a wall falling on Don. Thankfully, we are all OK and we have everything moved. Now maybe they will stop harassing us.

I took the flower pots, a cell phone she requested and any keys we have to the locks that use to be on the workshop and garage to my attorney this morning. They were not part of the agreement, but I have no use for them. All we want is an ending, we never want to be contacted by Hazel or any of her friends ever again. She wanted us out of her life and we intend to fulfill that request. We never want to have to think about her or this experience again. I cried so much yesterday that I lost my voice, my sugar was over 500 and my blood pressure 180/112. This ordeal has caused me more physical damage than mental at this point. The check is supposed to be released to us within 3 days of us moving out. That was yesterday, so she has until Monday.

I have some pics but will post at another time. I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that despite every attempt to stop us, we were successful in getting everything moved by the deadline.

Now hopefully everything will center around our life on a 100 year old farm….

a priority…..getting a water source at the barn. But we also have that roof and back porch damage that will have to be fixed very soon. It is all on the back porch but will require several days to fix. Watering the chickens requires carrying water from the Spring all the way to the barn. We want to get a system set up like we had at the other house with a gutter and rain collection. Something has been digging around the bottom of the coop. Chris noticed it this morning, I will check it out and try to spot tracks this evening. We are going to lay concrete blocks around the base of the coop. Gosh knows we have enough! LOL! Luckily, SaideMae has turned out to be a pretty good watch dog over the chickens. We are getting about 10-12 eggs a day now, so I will put a sign up by the road to start selling them today. We miss that!

Another priority for me is the bed situation. We are sleeping on basically boxsprings with foam pads on top in the library floor. Well, now that I have managed to mess my back and shoulder up, it is becoming difficult to get up and down. The bedroom is pretty much a storage room right now and has not been painted yet. I am thinking about moving the table over and just putting the bed up in the library for now.

Oh and I think I found a wood cook stove. It is $500 and I go look at it this evening. If it has an oven and water tank on it….I plan to do everything I can to get it. I miss baking!!!!

Other than that….there is much to do on the farm and will me lots of updates now on what life is truly like for us living non electric on our old farm!

I am still not able to give a full lengthy update at this time, as our deadline is up tomorrow and it seems like we still have a ton of things to accomplish before then. Yesterday was my hardest day yet. Concrete blocks and well, I am at this point just not able to lift things like I was a few weeks ago. Years ago I ripped the deltoid muscle in my shoulder and it was NOT a pleasant experience. Well, yesterday I managed to mess that shoulder up again and I am not sure how bad yet, but last night I could not raise my arm. Poor Chris is exhausted and Don has over extended himself as well. We have experienced several injuries this past week as a matter of fact.

Lakota got on the roof with Chris in the beginning of the destruction process and helped get the OSB off the roof. She, at some point in the day, stuck a nail pretty far into her foot. Perrin has stuck a few in his hands and smashed a few fingers while trying to help remove nails from OSB and 2×4’s. This in addition to the fire ant incident, which has made him overly aware of every ant in existence. Don has been having a blast tearing things apart, and working too hard for a man in his mid 70’s. Especially someone who had a brain tumor removed a few years ago. He is so disgusted with what Hazel has done against his brother’s wishes that he don’t even know what to say. He has been very supportive and if not for his tractor, truck and trailer, we would have had no chance in getting that house down and moved. He has been there every day for the past few weeks with us working. His dear wife, Johnny, has made sure we have a hot meal at the end of the day. Don could not wait to push the walls down. Once the OSB was removed and the roof gone, he was over anxious to get walls to fall. He knocked the front wall down and I could hear him laughing all the way to the outhouse. Chris was on a ladder trying to get the walls detached at the corners and I was pulling huge nails from 2×6’s. I glanced up and saw Don pulling the last wall over onto the floor, He swayed it back and forth and I froze. I just had a bad feeling and sure enough, the wall came down, a stud knocked Don off balance and he fell onto a pile of 4’ long 2×4’s. The wall came down on top of him and I felt like I was running in slow motion to get to him, screaming for Chris. We got him up and he gave a nervous laugh. When all was said and done, he had a knot near his rib, lots of bruises and minor cuts on his arms and legs and I made him go home and rest. I tried to get him to go to the Doc for an evaluation, but he refused. It has been 5 days now and he seems to be fine, but that could have been much more serious….even deadly. Chris and I have hammered our hands and fingers and accidently knocked each other here and there with large boards. He was taking the floor down and his hand got jammed between the subfloor and joist. I have bruises from head to toe and now shoulder and lower back issues. We are all exhausted and you can see it on our faces.

Every day we tear down, load the trailer, haul to the farm and unload. From roofing tin to subflooring, it has all been moved. We are now down to the concrete blocks, about 6 more plants, the outhouse and a few odds and ends here and there. We have two huge piles of scrap to burn today and we are burning the old chicken coop. The rain has just been a nemesis to us this past month.

Saturday Chris and I started building the new chicken coop in the barn at the farm. It was raining of course. We built a nice run outside of the coop and then had to take one of the hundred year old stalls and secure it in the barn to put the chickens in. It took almost all day to do this. It rained off and on and I learned that nailing into 100 year old wood is much more difficult than nailing into new lumber. I thought my arm would fall off! Saturday evening we loaded some things on the trailer just as a major storm hit. Don pulled the stuff to his house and we had dinner with Don and Jonny. Amanda and Perrin were with us. Afterwards, they went home and we went back up to the old place to shut the chickens in for the night so I could catch them easier Sunday. Well it rained ALL NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT. We barely made it up to the old place and then I had to stand in 3 inches of chicken crap and mud with 3 inches of chicken crap and water on top to catch 30 chickens. We had cages in the bucket of the tractor. I caught them and handed them out the door to Chris who put them in the cages with Don’s help. One by one I finally got them all. Then we hauled them across the field to the truck, loaded them and headed to the farm. We had to put a door on the coop and then the chickens went in. They seemed very well pleased. I noticed one of the hens about to lay, snapped a fast picture and then caught the egg as it rolls off the nesting box! We ended up with 10 eggs Sunday and another 10 yesterday. So the move hopefully did not mess them up too bad. They really seem to like the new place. We have to get a decent water collection system up at the barn though, as there is no water up there and we need fresh water daily. So we will hook up a collection system like we use to have at the other place, to collect rain water for the chickens. We can do it so one end will go into a container and the other can go into the run, fill a water container in there with an overflow to run out the other side and down the hill. Yeah we will get right on that as soon as we have time…lol.

I dug up the majority of the plants on Sunday and planted them at the farm Sunday night. Mother’s magnolia and Iris have been safely moved. The Crepe’ Myrtles, Azalea, Forsythia, Day Lilies, Columbines, Quince, Jasmine, Astible and much more. We still have the Yucca’s, Lilacs, Butterfly Bush, Figs and several more.

So today is more blocks. I have to work and poor Chris and Don are there trying to get things done. I plan to get off early and go help. Perrin is sick, most likely from being out in the cold rain Sunday. Poor little thing. Shannon is watching him today so Chris can focus on getting the blocks moved and not on what time Perrin needs medication. Hazel practically runs into the house when she sees up heading up the hill. I imagine her conscience gets to her once in awhile. I have two flower pots that belonged to her mother. Jimmy gave me two violets in them almost a year ago. I have no desire to keep the pots so I will give them back to Hazel as we pull out tomorrow. It will be a sad moment to drive away for the last time, looking in the mirror of what was out home. But it will be a good feeling to know we will never have to pull into the driveway again….we are tired. This whole thing has drained us in every way imaginable. It has hurt and scarred us. It has brought us to our knees.

Here are a few pics of the past week.

I am looking forward to waking up on my farm one day soon and not be in a rush to do anything with a deadline!

Not to busy to enjoy the beautiful things. We spotted this family in between the old house and farm. I had to stop for pictures!

1st load of deconstructed house!

Relentless Rain

Lakota on roof, she helped so much that day!

They threw boards down, I denailed and stacked on the trailer

Another load ready to go!

Don and Chris discussing options

One of our biggest helpers! He has injuries to prove it!

Hauling Chickens in the Rain!

Ready for the ride!

Loving the new run!

Inside the coop

Laying 1st egg in new home!

Almost done….

Rain has stopped I think. Maybe for one day. Wednesday there is 60% chance again and 40% throughout the weekend. There is no way we can get the house taken down if this continues and I am just unsure what will happen. It worries me. I wish I could take off work until the 20th and help Chris every day. He works so hard and I hope he knows that I appreciate him. I would give anything if, when this is all over with, I can take him on a short vacation somewhere. Not worry about anything for maybe 2-3 days. If anyone deserves it, he does.

We did not accomplish much this weekend. Did a few minor things around the farm and that is about it. We could not get up to the house to get anything done. It rained more this weekend than it has in awhile now. I guess if I can be grateful for anything, it is that we no longer live there and do not have to walk back and forth in the rain every day to go anywhere. Of course, when I am at the farm, I don’t want to leave anyway. And when I am gone somewhere, I can only think about how I wish I was home. I suppose it is good to love a home so much.

Drop Dead Fred is still preggers and I wish she would pop them babies out soon! Butters is being overly loving lately. Cutie has a cold, I expect it is from the move. Adjusting to a new place with a new climate. I am sure all of the dust in the old house has gotten to her as well. Poor thing. Everyone and everything else seems fine. We are happy with the farm. We are just worried about getting that other house taken down and moved.

Rain….rain and rain. Rain yesterday, rain all night, pouring rain today.

There is no way to get up to the old house right now. We desperately need to get there and utilize every minute taking the huse down, but it looks like we are going to be dealing with rain until the middle of next week. I feel like we are wasting time and I am starting to worry that we wll be able to meet the deadline.

Devin spent the night last night. We got up, had fresh eggs from the hens and some wonderful cherry bread Johnny gave to us. I had to wash the bed linens and all of the rugs. I want everything fresh and clean for the new house, so I am washing everything! Tomorrow I plan to pack away all of the winter clothes, except a few of Chris’ flannel shirts, as he often wears those all summer. I guess we will spend time working on the bathroom a bit and cleaning the bedroom some as well, organizing clothes and things. Anything that can be done INSIDE. Maybe the rains will stop soon and we can go on with plans to take the house apart.

Drop Dead Fred is about to pop and I am hoping she has her babies inside the house in the next few days. The Sparrows decided they could fly yesterday and the little things flew away one by one. It was kind of sad as the mom was at the nest this morning with bugs trying to feed little hungry mouths and there were none to feed.

I may decide to take a walk in the rain later today and explore the woods a bit. See what else the farm has to offer.

Oh rain….can you not go away for just a few more days?????

There are a lot of emotions flying around Chris and myself lately. The farm is livable now and we are enjoying our life there. The only thing hanging over our heads right now is the old place. We have less than 3 weeks to get all of the buildings torn down and moved to the new farm. I am anxious, but sad as well to have to tear down the house we built just last year. The thing I keep telling myself is, at least we get to take it with us. At one point it looked like we may have to walk away with nothing, absolutely nothing. I worried we would be out $20,000 and have nothing but a large payment on a farm and a second job to come up with the down payment. At least now, there will be no worry about any of that. We will be OK, we just have to make it through the next month.

I got my freezer cleaned out and ready to sell. I have someone who is buying it for $100 this weekend. Tim is getting all the extra insulation from the workshop this weekend as well. So then it will be taking down the house, loading it onto a trailer, moving it to the farm, unloading and going back for more. That will be our daily story until May 20th. I feel sorry for Chris, because with me working every day, much of the hard labor will fall on his shoulders. I had hoped someone in his family would be able to spare some time and come to help, but no one is available. Thank goodness Shannon can come over and help during the day, Tim can help when he is not working and I will be there every evening and weekends. The longer days are helping as well, so we can work until 8pm or so and have enough daylight to be able to actually see what we are doing. I will be thrilled when the house is apart and safely stored in the barn with the vulture so we can get our money from the other vulture and try to forget it all happened.

Chris is an amazing man. I know a lot of people do not understand just how hard he works and how fulfilling our life is for us. Some look at him and think he is wasting himself because he is not off in college furthering his education or doing something to change the world like working a 9-5 job he hates. I would love for any one of those doubters to live his life for one day and then judge him as anything but a hard working, amazing man. His day starts at about 6am. He usually will not eat breakfast, but does have his coffee. He takes care of all the animals right away and then waits for Perrin to arrive. Keeping up with a 4 year old every day is not an easy task. Perrin is all boy and on the go all of the time. Chris is not only the best babysitter ever…he is the greatest Papaw to the kids as well. He does not go off and get things done while Perrin sits in front of a TV all day. Perrin is with him, helping and learning. Chris has wonderful patience and Perrin has benefitted from that. Between feeding him meals, making sure he drinks enough, potty breaks, play breaks, being a nurse to his injuries, hearing “papaw” a million times in one day and making sure he does not destroy valuable items….Chris has to get the chores done, carry water, mow the yard, build this and that, paint something it seems daily, empty boxes, clean, wash dishes, gather eggs, empty pots, cut wood, fix broken things and take care of 8 cats, 2 dogs, a vulture, 30 chickens and a young child all day. When I get home from work, Amanda soon picks up Perrin and Chris immediately starts doing the things that he could not get done with a child around. He stops for supper and goes pretty much non stop until we head to bed about 9-10pm. He then wakes up and starts it all over again 8-9 hours later. He is a hard worker and I love him dearly. We are happy and that is what really matters. Some may look at our lifestyle in dismay and think we are wasting ourselves on this pipe dream. But let me tell ya…. There is not a single day goes by that one of us does not say out loud how lucky we are and the other agreeing to it. We acknowledge our happiness and although the choice in lifestyle may seem odd to most, we love it. Yes, it is hard work and we are dead tired at times, but would we change it for the 9-5 life some think we should live, a miserable job, miserable life, live only for money and bills….no thanks. Yeah we work harder for our water and food and to live in a non electric house…but it is meaningful for us, a joy, a passion, love…and we have no regrets.

As for the farm, things are just perfect and lovely there. We have all of the rooms done but the bedroom. Chris did the bathroom yesterday. I am going to make Drop Dead Fred a comfy, secluded bed in the bathtub so she can birth her babies in there. We have no use for the tub right now, we take out baths on the back porch. I see the farm coming back to life more and more as each day passes. I will be glad to get the outhouse over and get it set up. I miss having that. We have the toilet in the bathroom and Chris has it fixed so we can pour the water in to flush it. That is nice and all I suppose, lol, but I do miss my outhouse. It won’t be long before it is there and in use again!

There are so many wonderful things about the place. There is a whippoorwill that shows up beside the house every night at about 9pm and sings its little heart out until about 6am. The kitchen is just lovely. We eat all of our meals at the table and it is just very nice to cook in that old kitchen and the two of us sit down after a long hard day and enjoy the meal while we look out the window at OUR farm. It is very quiet and secluded down there as well, much quieter than the other place. I reckon we had loud neighbors at the old place, and at the farm, well there is one neighbor back behind us that we never hear anything from, most of the land is empty and an occasional car comes down the road.

We got a clothesline up so I can get a bunch of laundry done this weekend and if we get a break in the rain I will get to hang it out. I cannot wait to get out there barefoot first thing in the morning and hang out some clothes while the birds sing. That too is something I have been missing for some time now. Spring is here and I want to enjoy everything it has to offer to us this year.

So things are looking up. I wish Chris’ Mam-maw in MI could come down and spend some time at the farm with him. I wish she could come and see for herself how happy we are and how wonderful life is for us. Maybe someday soon we can take off for a weekend and go visit her for a few days. It is still not the same as her coming to visit at our home and experiencing our life with us.

I hope to have a family gathering at the house in the next few months. Invite all of our friends and family over for a good old fashioned picnic at the farm. It will be our way of thanking everyone for helping so much through hard work, prayers and kind thoughts and words sent our way. It will be nice to have everyone together for a celebration of the farm…a celebration of a dream coming true and being everything it was dreamed to be!