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Stop by & offer a few pointers, or point & laugh, as a few old farts figure out the fine art of living... Life on a Few Acres


Monday, February 10, 2014

The first 30 days.

It seemed a good time to take a look at the lessons & achievements of the first thirty days.

Probably the main reason I write is that blogging seems to be the 21st century's answer to yesteryear's home movies & vacation slides.  An added bonus is that we don't have to tidy the parlor or prepare scrumptious goodies before boring you. :).

I also write because there are so many people with similar dreams. Many are poking around cyber space looking for information, inspiration & encouragement.  Now that I have my toe in the water, I want to assure folks that if it can happen for we ole fools farts, anything is possible.

So, the first month in review: 

Achievements:
  • Closed!  One of the OF's works nights, and took out a loan for the property.  They used quicken loans and the process seemed smooth as butter.  We've all read the horror stories, so this seemed worth noting.
  • 1800sf of carpeting & accouterments removed.
  • Two bedrooms ready for the first coat of mudd.
Still working towards the septic update.  Like much of the country we've received extra feet of snow so little progress made.  We knew it was a crap shoot (pun intended <G>), so we're just shrugging off the delay .

Lessons:

  • Got to buy propane during the great propane-shortage-snow storm of '14.  Part of  this was we didn't know how many  gallons we'd likely burn.  Next time we'll pay more attention to that detail. 
  • What's going in across the  road?  You don't know?  Neither do I lol.  I thought i did my due diligence.  I snooped around the parcel info of our neighbors, looking for notorious family names and land usages.  The neighbors on 3 sides have 100s plus acres each, so I felt confident I'd have a nice cushion of space.  Much of that fourth side is also part of a large acreage, presumably used for hay or livestock.  For whatever reason the small parcel with the drive way didn't garner a red flag for me, but after closing, notice that there's a permit for a large ag building.  Time will  tell, and it's no big  deal, probably.  Just one of those lil details you might wish  to  work out prior  to  purchasing your own piece of the dream.



7 comments:

  1. JW - i really like that you wrote that you blog because so many others are out there looking for information and encouragement. i speak from experience. it was many years ago that i first started looking at people's blogs, trying to learn everything i could from then and finally in 2010, making the jump to our little homestead. i can't thank those bloggers enough and most of them are listed in my blogroll if you are interested. anyway, i think blogging is an important tool in documenting what we are doing, how we are doing it, why we are doing it, learning from previous mistakes and figuring out good solutions to problems. i like blogging just simply for my own use. but the idea that someone else could stumble across our blog and learn something - woohoo! that is a wonderful reward! keep up the good work that you are doing here - many of us out there in the interwebs really appreciate it!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  2. Closing is a huge step, so congratulations on that! It's so true about the internet and blogging. You last point about things not considered beforehand is so true for all of us. But by blogging about it you may give someone else another thing to consider. Every little bit helps. Even so, experience is, as they say, the best teacher, LOL

    This is a very exciting time for you. :)

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  3. Good Luck!! Nice to hear good things from you. Blogging is just sharing of thoughts to others and get many friends through it.
    Happy Valentine Day!!

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  4. Kymber I totally agree with your sentiments toward those internet voices that have shared their stories. Once a village was defined by physical space, now it truly is global. Kind of amazing to me. Thanks for the reminder to mine your blog lists for valuable resources. I certainly will.

    LOL Leigh. I'm still of the opinion that you're (one of) the best teachers. I can always find well researched and presented information on any project we consider tackling. Thanks again!

    Thank you too, Andrew. I appreciate your taking the time to visit, & to leave your calling card!

    Thanks for your well wishes, WW. I think you're right about blogging.

    Happy Valentine's day to you all!

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  5. It's challenging to sift through the available options and think about how you want to live, how much potential a place has, and ponder longer term questions... ultimately pulling the trigger and making the leap. Congrats on a big step towards your goals becoming reality.

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    1. You captured the quandary exactly. We'd chased the dream so long that when we caught it we were left scratching our heads and saying "now what?" Thanks for stopping by, & for all that inspiration your site provides!

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