Moving to the Country Update
I’ve been telling y’all, off and on for a few months, that we’re getting the house ready to sell, getting ready to move. I’m not sure that I’ve said a whole lot more than that. I know I’ve told y’all about our homesteading friends (and you’ve met all of their gorgeous dogs), and we want to emulate them. So we’re moving to the country. I figured you needed an update. I need to write things down in order to keep track of my life. And to plan for the future.
The Progression
So here’s the basic order of events –
- Diagnosed with cancer last year
- Went through a year of treatment
- Recovering is no fun
- Decided to pursue our dream of owning acreage and livestock
- April 2017 – get the house ready to sell
- Late August – put the house on the market
- Late August – write a contract on a home south of us, contingent on the sale of our house
- Mid-September – our house is finally nearly done
- Mid-September – the other house falls through
- Last week – someone writes a contract on our house!
- Right now – looking frantically for a house to move to at the end of October
It’s been a roller coaster ride, y’all. We’ve worked our tushies off to make this happen. Here are a couple of photos of our house.
The family who is buying our house is excited. It’s a great neighborhood, with the best schools, and convenient to everything and more. At 2100 square feet, it’s perfect for a family of five. I’m excited for them.
In the Middle of Life
So in the middle of all of this, we’ve been just living. That’s what you do, right? Smack in the middle of it all, worrying about how Flash and Patches would handle a big move at 15 years old, we made the decision that they wouldn’t. That they wouldn’t even handle another week. Their health was just that bad. So they crossed the Rainbow Bridge together, paw in paw. It was bitter sweet, saying goodbye to such good dogs, knowing that they were miserable, but not wanting them to go.
Chewy and Gadget have handled it well, the loss. It was confusing for them initially. They spend some time at Grandma’s house, which helped the transition. They’ve also handled the construction and remodeling well. The changes in their house. For my own sanity and theirs, I’ve done my best to maintain our routine.
In the beginning of the remodel, I also spent two weeks at a time on the road and at conferences – BlogPaws and BlogHer. Poor Hunny. Work goes on, for my Hunny, heading out to work every day and coming home to remodel at night, and blogging and social media for me. Dog photo shoots during the day. Routine and work are great things when chaos surrounds you, aren’t they? The overwhelming is a bit more bearable.
The Goslings
Hunny says I bought the goslings as a balm, because I knew I’d be letting Flash and Patches go. He’s probably right. But the week before the dogs went, we picked up assorted goslings (no real clue what they are) at Atwoods (Atwoods sells Jones Natural Chews, so I love shopping there). Say hello to Morticia, Gomez and Wednesday. Wednesday is the white (yellow) one. Jimmy drowned the other white one. They didn’t have a pool for weeks after that.
They follow Jimmy the Duck all over the yard. We now call him Mother Goose. And I’m hosing goose crap off the back porch twice a day. Nasty. But I love them. I step out the back door and they come running, making their cute baby squeak noises. It’s precious.
Why the Country?
Why are we moving to the country? For half our adult lives, Hunny and I have talked about having a hobby farm, a homestead. We’ve gone back and forth for years. It took cancer to push us over that edge. We’re not getting younger. If we don’t do this now, we’ll forever regret not pursuing our dream. So we’re jumping in with both feet. Oh, and we bought that calf a few months ago, and he needs a place to live.
Talents
In the Bible, Jesus tells a story (Matthew 25:14-30) of the talents. It’s money, talents. The man in the story is wealthy. He gives money, or talents, to three men. Different amounts for each. Two of those men invest and use the money to make more. One fearful man buries it in his yard. When the wealthy man returns, he comes a-calling for his money. The two men who’ve risked the money in order to make more have doubled the amount. The wealthy man gives them even more, as a reward. The miserly, fearful man gives him the exact amount and has the money taken away and given to one of the others. The guy didn’t even put it in a savings account to accrue a little interest!
In other words, don’t sit on your butt not using what you have or you’ll lose even that. Take risks. Use your money, your time, your God-given abilities. Don’t let fear and anxiety rule you. Get up and do. And if you fail? SO WHAT?! Keep going. Even if you fail, you can look back and be proud that you went for it. It’s worth it. I love the talent story. We’ve taken it to heart. We’re buying a farm.
Remind me of that in a few months, will ya? I have a feeling I’ll need it. 😉
Blogging and Puppies
My work here won’t stop when we move. I may be taking photos of more farm dogs. In fact, once we’re settled we’ll be looking for two Great Pyrenees puppies. Yes, we’ll be buying purebred dogs. They’ll come from a working farm, trained by their parents to be working dogs, guarding chickens and goats and such. They’ll have a job to do. In fact, every animal and person will have a job to do. These puppies won’t be raised as pets, but as working dogs, which is a beautiful thing.
Giveaway
Please don’t forget to enter our Liver Logs giveaway from Jones Natural Chews! Your dog will thank you if you enter. Seriously. To enter, click this sentence, leave a comment on the new post, click the entry box and click I Commented! Easy as that. Now, go give your dog a Jones Natural Chew. Watch it smile.
Spreading the good chews …
Flea