How do you move chickens??

We moved the chickens...finally...yesterday.  Scarlett decided she didn't want to leave W'ville.  After trying to catch her for over an two hours, she managed to completely elude me in the woods.  I was sad to leave her behind without a coop or her friends.  I just couldn't find her.  I will stop by this morning and see if I can find her, she may be roosting near where the coop is...or she may have been dinner for some lucky raccoon.  The Boy prayed for her to be safe and the raccoons to pick on someone their own size, so we shall see...

In the meantime, we are now down to 10 chickens.  Here is the documentation of their move....

Waiting for Man and Boy to bring the trailer to move the coop.  The girls are getting to explore parts of the yard previously unvisited.

Last picture of Scarlett (the grey one)

I was asked how do you move chickens (thank you, faithful reader!)....just like everything else, I packed them in cardboard boxes and stuck them in the back seat of the Versa.

Upon arrival...

"Oh, Hello!" 

Boy took this picture for me!  Man and I were unloading the coop from the trailer.

Now we have just have chickens instead of "city" chickens!  They seem to like the farm.  Sorry, I forgot to take the final picture.  I will do that today and post it here. 

Pictures.....

I know I've gotten several requests for pictures of the farm....finally I found a "tail" for the camera.   So here are some pictures.  I just realized that I haven't taken a picture of the front of the house, just inside and around the farm....I'll do that soon.  Oh, and look at some of the recent posts, I've tried to add pictures where needed.

Here we are at the old house, *kinda* packed up and ready to go...

Two nights before we actually "moved", we had a camp out at the new house.

Here is the fireplace in the middle of the downstairs.  It faces the kitchen, you can see the front "fancy" staircase and a bit of the living room through the doorways...off to the right is the den/office.

Below is looking out the back door/ back porch.  You can see the white picket fenced yard, my car, and then our BIG barn towards the very back of the acreage. There is the littler barn(the scrap barn) to the right, and then to the right of that you can barely see the top of the chicken house in the corner of the picture. 

 This is at sunrise, the backdoor faces east.

Below is at sunset looking out the front picture window.  The farm across the road and also all the farmland around our house is owned by one family which have about 800+ acres.  The tree to the left is an apple tree.

Here's the Master Bedroom...lots of closet space and a window seat that looks out over the back yard.

The house is 104 years old, and has some wonderful (and a few quirky) details.  Here are some random pictures of things I already love about our old farm house....

The front staircase (there is a second one, not fancy going up to the homeschool room)

The details on the banister:

The cool door knobs...this is on our front door

Doors with wonderful wood work.  Left is to the bathroom, right is the door to the back stairs.  These face the kitchen.

Here's a happy country dog (Stormy-Boy's dog) among the boxes to be unpacked on the kitchen floor.

Kristl-who really loves running all over the farm~!

And the other wall of the kitchen.  Refridge on the left, pantry on the right, and side door out to the yard.

And finally...the quirky....here is the "guard pig" that is above our back door.  He was so dusty (and still is) that while my dad was painting, he gave the pig a mohawk.

We were working in the house 2 days before we even noticed this crazy thing!

My life is OuT of cOnTroL!!!

So I spent this morning with our future tenant, getting to know her better and getting the rental application filled out.  I gave her the lease (thanks Mom!) and we are/were meeting Tuesday evening to get deposits, keys and all that fun stuff......the house is rented! 

So we got an email this afternoon from our realtor that there will be an offer made on it..........Wednesday.

Oh.my.

What's the lesson in this?  I think it's that God is in Control....not us.  I took matters into my own hands and thought I had everything all summed up nice and tidy.  Then God reminds us,  His will not ours.  So here I sit with love for my heavenly Father in my heart, gratitude for my Savior Jesus in my soul, and confusion in my poor walnut brain.

I really like our renters and they need to find a place and be out of their house by Friday...yes of this week.  I thought this was God sending relief for our mortgage and a way not to lose it to the bank.....but all along we have had a running list of options and renting was number 3, with selling outright being #1.  Our renter has two kids (and a DH, and a HUGE dog).  Her son is the same age our Boy was when we moved into the house.  Watching him running around the corner was like seeing a replay of Boy.  Oh.my.heart.  Oh.my.head! 

Please pray.  Pray that God gives us the wisdom to discern the right thing.  That the offer would not be a low ball silly offer that is below what we owe on the house.  That they would not be asking for the stars and the moon in addition to the house.  My renters love the place as it is and it would be so easy to get them in and just start making my house payments again.  Oh.my.sigh.  Please just pray for wisdom and God's hand to be obvious so that even a ditz like me can figure out the path.

I seem to only write on Sundays and Wednesdays. I'll try to get a few more days in there, but right now that is when it is 'less busy' at work and I can squeeze in a few minutes.

Well, we found renters for the house in Westerville. I will be meeting with her this morning to get the application and they need to be out of their current home by Oct 30 due to closing being moved up, so I have just 2 days to get the rest of the stuff out of the house in Westerville. Luckily our van is finally back from the shop after having the whole back axel rebuilt...long story..so hopefully we can get that stuff moved out early. We also managed to get the trailer stuck in the mud on the path back to the big barn....nuts!! We were moving stuff from the workshop to be stored in the big barn until I can figure out what to do with it. It was my plan that all the "stuff" from the shed in W'ville would go out there too. We'll have to see what will happen next.

I did explore a bit this weekend and finally went into the "falling down" stable. It is not nearly as rickety as I thought. I am seeing a future "Memory Lane Barn!" It is two story and about 20X20. Big windows in the upstairs perfect for a 'bunk room' and a great cropping room in the downstairs. This is L O N G term plans...like 2+ years from now. In the meantime, I did find 2-3 boxes full of canning jars!! So the pears will *hopefully* soon have a home. Speaking of the pears, they are currently 'chillin' in the pump house.

We are almost out of wood for the fireplace, but Man has found an Amish sawmill not far from home that sells slabwood bundles for a very reasonable price. Slabwood is the wood that is trimmed off before they make boards (The bark and rounded sides). Now that we have the van back, we'll go get some. We also have a cord of hardwoods being delivered in November, so we should be set for the winter. We've been able to keep the house very comfortable for the past two weeks with just wood. Even with the freezing temperatures at night.

Last night (Saturday) as Boy and I were unpacking in his room we saw a hayride go down our road. We have a few retreat centers right around us. One on the road and another around the corner. They could see us through his huge 6X6 picture window, we waved and when they came back past about 20 minutes later, all the riders were hollering and yelling hello! How FUN!

We're also hoping to finally get the chickens moved. I have not yet been able to get the new flock, or get my girls out to the farm. That is one of this weeks priorities. Besides getting everything out of the W'ville house. I haven't yet decided what to do with the chicken yard and house. The house needs work for the girls to be safe and it is on the agenda, but other priorities seem to keep bumping it out. In the meantime, I will start the chicken tractor on the garden and start getting it fertilized and the grass decimated for spring. Hopefully by the end of November, before the brutal cold, I can have the chicken house shored up and ready. Maybe by Friday I can get the new birds in as well.

I know I will get more posting done this week (and less work done) as I will be working an extra two days this week, for a total of 23 extra hours. So keep tuned.

Status....

OK, as of today things are going fairly alright. Here's the lowdown.....

We are dropped the price of the house in Westerville. I asked my realtor to have no showings available until yesterday so I could get it somewhat cleaned up. I have most everything out from inside(that is going to the new house). I just need to move one bookcase, a small video cabinet, the quilt stand, and the stereo components (and speakers). I also want to bring over the full mattress that is in Grandma Arizona's room because ...eventually...the boy will be getting a twin over full bunkbed, since we no longer have a guest bedroom. But in the meantime I don't know where I would put it.

So for now, it's wonderful to go take a quick 2o minute nap while I'm waiting for things to happen in Westerville....what would be happening you ask? Well, yesterday morning, I showed the house to a lady that is interested in renting the house. (That's the other development. We decided that if it doesn't sell, we will try to rent it before giving it back to the bank.) I hope they do decide to rent it. She was a neat lady!

I have had the carpets cleaned over there. I still need to paint 1 room and we still do have lots to find a home for. The attic has not been cleaned out, either has the crawl space....or the shed. The chickens still need moved and the outside "stuff". We've been at a disadvantage because the whole rear end of the van went out and it's been in the shop for a week. They did give us a loaner, but it doesn't have a hitch to use the trailer and I'm thinking that they might not be very happy with me moving chickens in it :)

Speaking of chickens...as soon as I am able to get to the new chicken house...I've found a flock of Aracaunas to add to the farm! We will be at 2 dozen birdies. 23 hens, and one happy rooster! Then in the spring, we'll let some of the eggs hatch out for babies. We should have lots of green and blue eggs. This will be great...right now both of the Aracaunas (Scarlett and Arica) and the two Buffies are going through a molt and we have not seen eggs from them in a while. It will likely be a few more weeks until we see eggs from them again. Also, I'm pretty sure that Maran has not yet started laying. But the Comets and whites are laying very consistantly. We get 6 eggs from 6 birds on almost a daily basis! WOOHOO!

I'm still mulling over whether to have someone come out to Bush Hog the chicken yard and all the burrs or go ahead and get my first dairy goat.....there are good arguements either way. I'm just not decided yet.

So back to what's going on....I have put on the calendar that the farm warming / boy birthday party is going to be on November 7th. I'm praying that the weather will cooperate because we'd like to be able to cook out and also let folks wander around the farm and check things out. But I've "bit the bullet" and there will be no more delays. I've ordered the change of address/invitations and so, there it is. Mark your calendar...

In the meantime, I have a list a mile long of all that needs to be accomplished in the next 17 days, besides all our "other" stuff (Mandatory overtime, plus 2 additional OT days next week, Trunk n Treat, Boys Brigade, Bible Quizzing Practice, and a Rally. Biography, Geography Fair, and Boy's Birthday. ) And on top of that, Boy and Man picked all the pears from our pear tree. Seriously, I have a whole 30 gallon trash can full to do something with (jam, pear butter, canned).

I know everyone wants to see pictures. As soon as I unearth the camera "tail" again...I'll post some! Especially of the inherited "guard pig" that is above our back door. (Which my dad made a mohawk with all the dust on it...and I still haven't dusted it off.)

We found a farm!!

An email I sent to our family and friends this morning....

Dear Family and Friends-

First, I'm sorry to not send out a personal message to everyone, but things are in fast forward here. Let me tell you what is going on!

As most everyone knows after my surgery, we put the house up on the market. We've had tons of showings but not the greatest feedback. So only one offer that had us paying them $10K to take the house...umm no thanks. We haven't been willing to drop our price because we didn't have anywhere to go.

Now we do! God is so GOOD!!! Last Sunday, MAN found a farm for rent for a very reasonable price. We went and looked at it yesterday. I don't want to say that it is perfect, but it's very nearly perfect. 90% of the things we felt the new place would need are in place and almost ready to go. The shop is bigger for MAN's business (which is quite busy right now) so hopefully he can have room to do things a bit differently and not have to work quite so hard to get his orders done. It has a HUGE two story animal/hay barn. It needs a bit of work before we can get any new critters, but the work needed isn't too major. Plus all the pastures are already fenced and ready to go. There is a huge area fenced for the garden (I wish it were spring again so I could plant it!! But as my sweetie pointed out, we probably need the fall and winter to get everything else in place...so God's timining is perfect.)

It has a chicken house and fenced chicken yard. That is completely overgrown and the house has not been used for about 5 years, so it will need work. But there are some things that are there that I now won't need to buy that I've been needing (There is a 6 box nest box set up-now that the new chickens are starting to lay, we've been needing a 2nd box. And it has a brooder set up, so it will be easier to add more chicks to the flock). The house is wonderful. Huge kitchen, open layout. Old farm house with really neat details (Decorative hardware on the doors from 75+ years ago) Huge windows. I'm so excited, can you tell???? 2 staircases! How wild is that?! Wood floors. Big separate laundry room (who would think I could be excited about laundry!) 3 BR, 2 bath.

There is also a pump house that has been insulated and set up as a root cellar. Plus there is a storm cellar below the house that I"ve been told has an additional washer/dryer hook up, and a good amount of storage space. There is an additional smaller barn that everyone says looks to be unusable...but I'm not yet convinced. Pear trees, apple trees, crabapple trees. A cute white picket fence around the back of the house. It's only about 3 miles (and only 2 turns) from a major highway. It's only 30 minutes to work and about 20 to church.

So now the fast forward starts! We made a verbal agreement with the landlady last night and will be getting the lease today. The current tenants are going to be out on October 1st. My plan is to get the majority of our stuff packed and ready to go, so we can move in right away. Because the new house is smaller than the old some furniture will not be going. The plan is to empty, clean (carpets, etc) and stage this house with the furniture left, and be moved into the new house. Then all the bad feedback (too much clutter in the house) will have been addressed (our stuff, our chickens, our dogs will all be at the new house) and then we'll drop the price to pick the interest back up. When we first listed we had 18 showings in 14 days. It has since dropped off. Then we are praying God will bring a buyer quickly so we aren't having to make a mortgage payment and a rent payment for long.

Now I have to get in gear and get the fall stuff done here, get packed up and ready to go. Then when we can get in, move and come back here and paint, clean, stage the house and then back to the farm to start unpacking and settling in. MAN will be busy too. He has to move the whole shop (Oh my goodness there are alot of tools out there!!) and get the new shop set up, and still be working on orders that are currently in queue. Even before we added the move, the business was booked out to mid/late October with orders!

So, that's what is going on over here. In the past, I've always had too much pride to accept help from others, always concern of what they would think of my clutter and too much stuff...my lack of housecleaning skills. After my surgery, there were 5 wonderful women that came over to our house to help me. It was mortifying...and one of the biggest blessings I've ever had. I know when I go to help someone else out, I never think about their "stuff" or judge, so I don't know why I couldn't get past that my friends are like that too. I've learned better. God has blessed me in so many ways I cannot even count. Come October 1st, I may have to use these lessons, and if you are bored and have nothing to do (I don't know ANYONE that this would apply to-REALLY!) I might have to call on you for some help! In the meantime, I'll try to keep up on the blog so you know what is going on. The blog address is http://www.wallacehomestead.blogspot.com/

We love you all and know that many of you have been praying for our situation. I wanted you to see the answer to your prayers. We are challenged but excited!
Picture of the new kitchen, with BOY standing on the cellar door looking in.

back to work...

Yup...I'm back... I was so nervous. I didn't need to be, it's like I never left. Except the new faces that think that I am new. :)

I'm still trying to get things done at the house, too. We've powerwashed the deck. And, had concrete work done to try to stop the water into the garage. The new garage door has been ordered. And MAN had someone come to get the logs that we've been wanting to get milled out of the front yard. It will keep some family warm this winter. There are still quite a few that need cut up, but they are not right in front of the door so it's not as urgent.

I found a house that I like that is at the top of our price range, but with the way the market is, we can't make an offer until we have an offer on ours. We're up to 24 showings so far. Yeah!!

T minus 6 days.....

6 days before I rejoin the workforce and become a productive worker. *snort, giggle* No really. I am planning on working hard when I get back...but that would imply that I am not working hard now...wouldn't it?!

So we ended up with 5 showings on Thursday instead of 4. 1 on Friday, 1 on Saturday. But we haven't heard ANYTHING yet.

Today I put my schedule into overdrive...I have so much I want to get done in the next 6 days. It doesn't sound like much but I worked all day on the Boy's room. He has the huge storage closet that runs the length of his room and a step up. It's our "attic" storage. It was FULL! I took the crib and changing table out for the yard sale and it's been in the shed while I waited for a serious flake to come pick it up. Finally I reposted it on Craigslist last night and a guy that works for Rolls Royce came by this morning and bought it and the dresser (so of course I'm frantically tossing all of the Boy's clothes OUT of the dresser as he was on his way! So since MAN is working on building his first dresser for a customer and BOYs is next, I had to find a place for all that stuff and all the jazz in the closet. I ended up spending almost 8 hours in his room today!

Then I went to pick up a computer I bought for him on Craigslist (I haven't mentioned in a while how much I heart Craigslist...) It was a screaming deal $50!!! And it has XP! WOOHOO! Came with the monitor, mouse, keyboard too. Plus, he gave me another one for FREE. He said "give this one for the kid. You keep the other!" So maybe I will be able to upload pictures soon!!! (If not on the new computer, then maybe when I get back to...no...I will be a good productive employee!)

The I planted 3 more plants in my Mother's Day Topsy Turvy. We now have 3 tomatoes, 1 green pepper (sorry, cole! Need it for salsa) Cilantro, and Parsley. Also, the funnest thing happened...where we wintered the chickens has become a voluntary garden! All winter we dumped straw and sawdust in to keep their feet dry. I also feed them pumpkins from harvest time. And leftovers. We have about 12 voluntary tomato plants, and about that many pumpkin plants. And they are doing great. I put one tomato in the Turvy. And put 3 into pots (so if we move we can take them along) and I planted one pumpking into a pot.

The BOY and I moved two bales of straw from winter over to the potato patch. We got 3 eggs today. The peas have blossoms, and we have two huge Zucchini plants. We've been nibbling the strawberries and raspberries as they've been getting ripe, but don't have enough to "do" anything with them.

I cleaned the oven and put up new curtains in the downstairs bathroom. With all the showings, this is the longest our house has been this clean. Oh, had I told you that after my massive yard sale (the best one I've EVER had) I had to buy a vaccum. Yeah. I killed the other one...decisively! Ping POW..something broke on the...umm..man told me what it was. Oh well. So I have a new one that everyone "fights" to use, which considering we have been showing on a daily basis...it's already well used.

What else, went to the grocery store. I will be running out in the morning to pick up about 500 square feet of sod from a guy from...say it together...Craigslist. I just got off the phone with him. Another out of control deal! Oh, and I'm picking up training wheels from a lady on Freecycle. Why training wheels you ask...we're going to put wheels on the coop to make it move easier!

List for tomorrow:
Powerwash deck and table. (DONE)
Powerwash front patio.
Stain deck.
Lay sod. (DONE)
Weed strawberry garden. (DONE)
Weed BOY garden (Flower garden with a statue someone gave us of a little boy, when BOY was born) (DONE)
Weed raspberry patch. (1/2 DONE)

And we are having a few guys out to grind out the end of the drive near the garage and put in drainage. Yes after 7 years of the garage flooding every time it rained..and making MAN crazy, it's finally going to get done. AND we have to get the garage door replaced. The garage door opener popped the center board of our rickety door off.

Pictures of BOY Powerwashing the deck!

Introducing Ms.Judy and Scarlet (&Gray)

Two weeks ago, I gained another egg customer. Now 3 chickens are not going to cut it for 3 families. All families with growing boys that love eggs. Mine alone (Man & Boy) could wipe out a dozen in a few days if I let them. So, the time had come to add a few more grown birds to the mix. I met a wonderful lady farmer through the wonders of Craigslist (have I mentioned how I.really.really.heart.craigslist?). She had some Aracuanas and White Rocks for sale at a wonderful price. So Boy and I went out for a ride in the rental car (did I mention before that my car was hit the same week I had my MRI?) to the farm. Nothing better than a rental car to pick up chickens, eh??

She had a wonderful farm, and quite a few chickens. Boy "purchased" 22 eggs from her as well (she gave his money back to me). They were delicious!! (And they were fertile eggs...oh, if I had a broody hen!!)

So we picked....Ms.Judy.....

And Scarlett (who is grey-get the Buckeye reference? You would think we were actually football people. We aren't. Boy named them.)

They are both Aracaunas...one lays an almost Army Green egg, and the other lays a pink egg. We haven't yet figured out which one is which. Arica, our previous Aracuana, was the lowest in the "pecking" order, and right away established that SHE was ABOVE these newbies!! Everytime I saw her that first day she had feathers in her beak! Yikes. No the bald spots are not from my out of control chicken...that's from the rooster at their previous home....you know.

The grey one has now found her place, and unfortunately Ms.Judy is the lowly one now. Here it is a week later and still she is picked on. Hopefully all will settle down in the Coop soon.

And on a side note....the first day we had them...Scarlett jumped out of the coop within the hour of arriving to the Wallace Homestead...and we spent over an hour trying to catch her...then this past week, both "flew the coop" and spent about 2.5 hours "free ranging" the side yard, with 3 Wallaces "herding" them. I'm sure our recluse neighbor was laughing his tail off at us!!!

Tomorrow, will start a new chicken adventure, so stay tuned!

We're also looking at another property tomorrow that looks extremely promising. Both of the previous properties have been mostly ruled out. We met the Amish across the street from the one, very nice people. Apparently the man is too sick to run the mill anymore and they are looking to move, so the major draw is not there. Plus the house is really not good. (Mold, smell, small rooms, peeling ceilings, etc) and to move a different mobile in would cost the same as just staying here. So....

And only 23 days until surgery...and I've moved out of fear to looking forward to it as the pain in my leg and back is definitely getting worse on a daily basis. It seems that I am doing quite a bit, but actually, I think I'm only up a few hours a day. We are homeschooling in my bed, or the car if we are off on "adventures". The boy is in our homeschool dinner theater in 12 days, a pretty big speaking part so we are busy with that in my waking hours. Fortunately, my friends in the homeschool group know what is going on and have offered help, dinners, and play times for the Boy.

Homesteading Updates

This is what everyone has been looking for...our homesteading updates...

My back problem started on the way home from our visit to our new friends at the intentional community we visited. The last time my back blew out was the day before we were to close on the property in Holmes County, so this seemed like it might be an indication that this was not the path we should choose. We're still open to God's leading in moving so far, but also in trying to find His will closer by too.

We still long for one of our friends from the homeschool group, or church, or even the readers that have contacted us previous to express a true motivation to move ahead with a local intentional Christian community. It's hard to not see the direction our country is moving in, and the daily destruction of the Constitution, economy and the move to end time scenarios (new currency for example). Call me an alarmist if you must, but when the time comes and there are food, energy shortages and rationing, you will know that those who ran for the hills now were right. I don't want to be in the situation of knowing and then being stuck and looking back with an "I should have...." Please, If you feel this way too, are a 912-er, etc, PLEASE email because we found a wonderful property!

We have looked at a few properties that we are considering. The one that is the most attractive has a lot split so we could share it with 2-5 other families if the interest is there. It's still in central Ohio, but far enough out that crime and other factors shouldn't be an issue. The property that we are looking at getting into already has a shop ready for the MAN's business.

(The business is one of the reasons we feel lead to stay in Ohio rather than move out of state. We are currently booked out by about 5 weeks and have also been lead to expand the business into LOG FURNITURE. You'll be hearing more about this soon. We've had requests and now we are working to follow up on an opportunity that seems to be God-lead. )

The property has a house that is a bit less to be desired, but is livable for awhile until we could put something else up. It has plenty of room for animals and gardens. It's close enough in that I could commute to work as long as needed. It really is a beautiful piece of God's earth!

The other one we considered, ended up only miles away from the first. It is also a contender as it has many of the things needed for our business...shop, right on a major road. Amish neighbors with a sawmill (this one is hard to pass up!) and this one was fenced. The house is...ok...well liveable but not very nice, and unfortunately it could only support one family and is landlocked, so it doesn't lend for encouraging others to join us in an intentional community. It's also on only 1/3 of the land of the other property.

We've been wanting to get this house here put up for sale, but I've got so much STUFF that needs dealt with that we haven't gotten to that point. We are now considering putting the house up for auction, like the Amish do, to just get the sale over with!

New baby chickens are slated to hatch in about 20 days, then we have about 18 weeks before the roosters crow so there are some time limits--grin! We are looking at adding rabbits even while we are still in the suburbs. The first animal once we get to the farm, I think, is going to be a Nigerian Dwarf Goat, followed quickly by a Dexter Cow. And even more chickens. I want to be wherever we are going by May 1st as that is planting time. God will dictate the timeline, and now with the added complication of my spinal issues, we really are relying on His Grace.

So, feel free to email or comment! I'll try to do a better job at updating, but sitting is difficult with the nerve pain-thus the reason I haven't been posting all along.

Sorry for the delay in updating!!

So much has been going on! We have been farm hunting and today...I think we found the place!! HORRAY! We just have some hard things to work through...one-praying and discerning that this is God's will for us. Two-figuring out if our customers will drive the extra 25 minutes north of Polaris to buy beds and Three-selling this house!!! Oh, and FOUR-finding the cash to buy it~! Would you pray with us?

But let me back up and tell you about what has transpired in the past few weeks...we found a property right here in Westerville that had about 4 acres and a huge 30X60 pole building...perfect for my Man's business, but the sellers were less than friendly and we couldn't "inspect" the building without being not only prequalified (we are...they requested we be if we even wanted to see the house) but also either have buyers or a proof of a bridge loan to see the barn again. So, I really don't think they want to sell. We wanted to be out of Westerville since we don't use the school system and they have HUGE taxes.

We looked at another property in Johnstown. Beautiful! We were excited when we drove past that a goat came up to greet us. We called to find out the details and went to go see it this past Wednesday (6/11). It comes with the goat and has an option for the horse as well. Unfortunately the pole building for the business does not have a floor or is insulated. Nor is it on seperate power. What a disappointment, especially for the Boy, as he already had taken to the goat and horse. (He's going to make a great country boy!)

Then today (6/14)..I had found this property on Craigslist (have I mentioned my {hearts} for Craigslist today??grin) back in April maybe? I had told one of my coworkers about it and she asked me if I was getting obsessed because I was constantly bringing it up. Well, it was out of our price range and too far North (I thought) . They lowered the price this week and it looks as though distance wise it is further away, but it's highway miles and takes the same amount of time. It's outside of a little town called Marengo. It has 5.177 acres, and a 1900 square foot ranch home with a full basement. And it is the prettiest house I've seen. I can't imagine living in such a pretty house! It has a 1500 sq ft insulated pole barn, and a restored barn with three lean-tos perfect for animals. The lady selling the farm is beyond sweet! She said she would include her two tractors and the golf cart (!). The Boy is thrilled for not only the space to run, and the woods to play in, but her late husband built a playhouse on stilts (with power) He's already planning sleepovers with his buddies. Course, I'm already planning my fields, gardens and what animals to run where! BIG GRIN!

So I need to get busy decluttering...man, I am such a packrat, this will definately be a challenge! We have a curriculum fair on Tuesday, so maybe I can sell some of this stuff.