the state we're in

No pictures this time (I forgot the camera), but I wanted to update on our progress because it seems like we've been dragging, dragging, dragging along & then bam! It's all going to happen at once. Maybe building always happens like this?

We could be moving as early as this coming weekend. Wow.

We now have: water from the road back to the house. A septic tank due to be installed early this week. A leach field already installed for the tank. Electric sign-in fees paid, paperwork notarized & filed, and flags set to indicate the underground line-to-be. We're still waiting on them to dig the line.

We have the skirting ordered and estimated delivery to be this coming Friday here at James. We'll have to move it out there in the truck. This is probably the biggest stickler to moving out there over next weekend. We would be making multiple, multiple trips with the truck unless we break down & rent a moving van.

I don't mind moving in without electric for a few weeks, but we have to have water & septic installed. We won't have a landline phone for awhile either, most likely, so we'll have to depend on our cellphones. We probably won't have internet for awhile, although I'm sure I'll be making lots of trips to the library to make up for that.

We met our first neighbor yesterday. We had to install a mailbox on the corner of what we thought was probably their property -- the mailtruck runs on the opposite side of the road from our house -- so we bravely (it's hard!) went over & knocked on their door to say hello & tell them before we started messing around their property.

Turns out "they" is a mom who has recently separated from her husband and her three older children, 1 in high school & 2 in college. She lives in a gorgeous house on 5 acres. I don't know how many square feet, but it looks smallish -- just our style -- and it has that lofted ceiling with open great room & balcony that I've always loved & seems to be common in the area among newer homes. It has a wrap-around porch that runs the length of two sides of the house. It made me think sadly of our log cabin plans...briefly. I think my desire to not be straddled in outrageous debt right now outweighs my house-envy.

She seemed to be a friendly woman. We talked about gardening, canning, going without chemicals. She too is allergic to chemicals. She invited us to come and have popcorn while we watch TV in her finished basement during tornado warnings.

Our contractor was out for awhile yesterday too. He was discussing our storm shelter with us. I told him we had a budget of $2000 & to do as much as he could with it, then gave him "creative control." Ha! He's making it so we can put shelves in to store canned goods, apples, squashes & root veggies overwinter. He described the details to Jeff (which I didn't particularly understand) and Jeff reported to me that we're going to have a bunker that will survive a nuclear holocaust. Hee, hee.

Ooh -- I do have one picture to share. This is a Photoshop creation of our plans for the house that I worked on all day Thursday. I think I needed a break from real work that day!



The big dirt patch in front represents our garden. We'll be planting our vegetables in front over about an acre. It will extend to the halfway point between our house & the road. I spent the latter part of Thursday doing a scaled plan of the garden on graph paper. I'm planning a 4-year rotation, with the 4 plots belonging to: salad veggies, brassicas, roots & cucurbits/squashes. A permanant rhubarb/asparagus bed will run the width of one end & a permanent strawberry bed will run the width of the other.

I've been thinking about where I want this blog to go after we move & I've decided it will morph into the traditional homeschooling/farming blog we all know & love. I'll describe what steps we're taking on the farm, what stupid mistakes we make & what brilliant things we discover from the old-timers. I'll record the cute things my kids say and leave out the parts where I lose my temper. I'll take lots of pictures to share. LG will remain the place where I can share my true thoughts & feelings, my struggles & weaknesses. I'll not share that blogspot with many people. This one's different; it's meant to be shared.