Water and Drywall and Rain … oh my!

Water is a wonderful thing. HOT water is even better.

I have a hot water heater now, along with two water hydrants near my cross-fenced fields, and a fully functioning water pump.

Funny how something so simple can be so satisfying

I took a local Big Box Store clinic on repairing drywall recently and am now in the process of making a huge mess in my hallway covering up the huge holes and dings left by the former owner. This mess will turn into a beautiful wall … after I get the sanding finished and the paint up.

Funny how something so messy and ugly can wind up disappearing.

 Ceilings – and their corresponding poorly repaired roofs – are another subject altogether.

What we hoped would hold out a year opened it ugly maw and let the pouring rain fall down upon our already weather abused wood floors. You know, those wood floors I love so much and can't wait to refinish? Yea, a little more water damage to enhance the rustic patina.

 Wonderful hubba hubby rigged up a type of water diversion shed in the attic, using some old gardening plastic to guide the water out the roof vent. The leak quit; pretty cool idea if I do say so myself – even if I did have to sacrifice some hoop house material. Just in case, we left a bucket under the hole. When we returned the next day, no more water had collected (Yea!) Of course, this even became a game changer for us. Because of this, we're having to reprioritize our repair and renovate list – we obviously don't have the year we hoped for to put on a new roof. So now we're in the midst of pricing Big Box roofing rep and figuring out how to pay for this as well as the other necessary renovations to bring the house to the point where we can move in the furniture and start on the property planning.

Trying to do this and stay debt free is the real trick because, well, we might not be able to manage it without borrowing a few dollars. Did you know that if you have no debt, and have carried no debt for about, oh, say nine years now that your credit rating is a ZERO? This is despite evidence of previous credit extended and promptly paid. And then to find out that you are an “unusual situation” because you saved your money and paid for your house instead of getting a mortgage. (Also weird is that the word 'mortgage' is derived from the french word 'morte' which means 'death' or 'to die'. So seriously, WHO would want something that basically says its going to kill you?! But I digress) So, we'll see what we can do to improve our financial situation a bit or take care of the roof and put off the floors, install the insulation ourselves, and keep our spending to the essentials.

Our saving grace is that our expenses are very low, we have more than a few months of food put back, and growing season is about to be in full bloom. We have so much land to explore that we will be spending a lot of time outdoors getting to know our property and hiking, hiking, hiking (something this little round pumpkin butt needs!) I walk out my front door and I'm on a vacation adventure. There's a part of me that knows the easiest thing to do would be to get a job, but I think higher authorities have my job already in front of me: set up the house – get the garden started – begin THIS adventure – do THIS job first.

I keep applying for intersting jobs and I'm still holding out hope for the one's I've applied to call. Until then: the weather is turning towards Spring and will soon have us Southerners complaining about the heat and humidity of Summer (instead of the freakishly cold and/or rainy weather we've experienced since LAST Spring). As for the house, our initial efforts have begun slower than we thought – I don't know, I guess we thought we'd have the painting finished by now and be working on furniture arrangemenents. Of course, we have only owned the house SIX days. Maybe we're being a tad over-ambitious? We've been working towards this day for the last few years … we're definitely anxious to get this homestead in motion.

Regardless of the unexpected events, a sudden deficit in patience, and dwindling funds, we're both happy with this decision. These initial bumps in the road will be the events that help us plan and organize the development of our homestead. I am happy we bought the house and look forward to the day we look around at our homestead, I gaze lovingly in my hubby's eyes and say “Hey, think we could move the goat barn to the other side of the field?”