Good Friday Moving Day

      Even though it was pouring down rain, it was a good day because we were finally moving out to the farm and we had plenty of family and friends to help us.  Britney took all these photos to help us document the big day.

       It was a bit hectic moving things from the house to the van.  It took some time getting everything into the moving van so we could do it in one load.  But we did it !!!, thanks to Dan Hanson who has experience as a mover. 
      Notice the rain....with the van right up to the garage, stuff didn’t get wet going in.  But unloading was a different story, because we had to go into the front door of the farm house, and couldn’t get the van very close.  Plus, it was much windier and the rain was blowing sideways from the north.

      Abbey was more intrigued than scared by this whole moving process.
                                                     Kaysha was just plain worried.  She

knows that when we start packing up, she sometimes gets left behind (like for the week we are in Florida or Michigan).  I hooked her to the couch which was not going to the new house but would be sold in our moving sale.  







       We took a snack break while Dan and Joe were working the puzzle of furniture into the van.  At this point, we started throwing everything into any box available, just to get it packed. Our friend Lana was great help with this.  Explains why I still can’t find some things a week later.

      At the farm house we unloaded everything as fast as possible because it was so windy and rainy.  So there was quite a mess to begin with.

     Kaysha gets set up on the back porch.... now designated as the dog room.  Not sure where all the plants will go.  Do people buy plants at a garage sale?










      Our first dinner at the new house.  The kids were put in the kitchen due to lack of space at the dining table.  They are as good at eating pizza as they are at helping us move.

      Carol, Patti, and Lana were great help with unpacking the kitchen and China Hutch. Lana even got all our shower curtains put up so we could shower our first night. 
     Over the course of the weekend, Chris, Travis, and Daniel helped get the audio/visual stuff connected.  Brother Dave did lots of fix it, repair and install jobs for us.  Carol+Patti were great help at moving furniture and getting things put away.

       Friday after pizza, we went for a walk. All of Joe’s coats were back at the old house, so he used a blanket. These abandoned tracks are at the South edge (boarder) of our farm.  The “road” gravel drive we are walking on runs along the West border of our farm and belongs to the seed company just west of us ¼ mile down the road.

      Saturday was a much nicer day in terms of weather....it was still cold but sunny and no rain.  This gave us the opportunity to go for a longer walk and to see and explore our “neighborhood” which is farm fields in every direction.  Tie and Ike (Carol’s 2 border collies) had fun exploring, as did  Kaysha.  I even think she was working with Tie to find all the varmints they could definitely smell. We have
a big ground hog
in the barn.....and mice galore. We need to get us a good barn cat or two, ones that are wild and will stay away from the house and dog, and do their job out in the barn.    

Kaysha really seems to enjoy farm life, and always comes when we call her.  She tends to stay around the barn yard because that’s where all the critters and good exploring are.  Plus that is where we are.

      Carol and I went shopping while Patti took the kids to the Children's Museum. We twins had a great time at Lowe's buying a ton of different needed supplies, including a new rug for the living room.  Unfortunately we lost track of time and left poor Patti abandoned at the museum. She found some other things to do and was very forgiving...but I owe her big time.  Many horsey rides for her kids. 

     Once home we continued to work on setting up beds and dressers.  Britney was quick to get her new room organized and everything in place.  Getting the washer and drier hooked up was big help. Thank God Carol was not hurt my a near electrical shock with that.  It didn’t take long to start feeling at home and settled in.

Here the "boys" and Nicole are enjoying the results of their newly hooked up electronics.

     Picking up sticks out in the yard and burning them in the fire pit. 

     Lots of old trees with lots of dead branches = lots of bond fires.
      
     Roasting peeps over the bonfire was our Easter celebration Saturday night.  The chocolate ones were favored by the older ladies.  The kids seemed to enjoy roasting anything.
The men just drank beer and feed more wood into the fire.

         As the sun sets to the west, we enjoyed relaxing after 2 days of hard work.  There is still lots of unpacking to do, and we need to clean and do some repairs at the old house.  We are also going to have a garage sale next weekend to get rid of a lot of the left over stuff we have accumulated and no longer need or have room for.

       Our new home is a great blessing and in spite of the challenges and hard work it is going to involve,  we are very excited and happy to be undertaking this new adventure.  We look forward to having all friends and family out for some fun on the farm.   But beware, we may put you to work some of the time.

Packin' It Up

      We have good news.  As of Tuesday afternoon, we have "sold" the

house!  Whooo Hoooo!  The buyers who made a very low offer last week, came up enough more, and we came down even more, and the real estate office is knocking off 1/2% of the commission, so we have an agreed upon price. The official papers from the lawyer are all typed and signed by everyone.  But it is not a done deal until closing, which is set for April 30th.  The buyers are pre-approved for financing so that won’t slow the deal down.  Hopefully this place clears inspection and we are good to go.  It is hard to believe we will be completely out of here in 4 weeks.                                                           
     With the earlier plan of moving, we had spent a great deal of time sorting through all of our stuff.  We had to get rid of a lot because our new house is smaller and has much less storage space....unless you count all of the out buildings.  Abbey decided to sort herself into one of the garage sale boxes.  We may need to give her some counseling for her low self esteem if she thinks she is only worth 10 cents. I think she is priceless.
       Since I no longer need to worry about keeping this place presentable, I have started packing in earnest.  Nick nacks and pictures no longer need to be out to keep the place looking nice.  And it doesn’t matter where I stack boxes.  We are still cleaning as we pack and continue sorting through more stuff. 

       We went out to the farm again Wednesday....can't stay away from the place.....to have two "horse" friends come look and give suggestions.  They had different opinions and gave us several ideas,  but it has been suggested by all we have talked to that we need to put in better fencing along Route 150 or around the perimeter of our farm.  The electric fence might not be full-proof ....don’t want horses and cow on the highway.  The one friend of Joe’s who came out is on the board of the “Old House Society” and said that our original farm house was built in the mid 1800’s .....which makes it 150 years old, not 75.  He is their expert on architect, so I think we can trust his opinion....but now it has our curiosity up.....we would like to try to get the old deeds or what ever we need to get the history on the place. 

       While out at the farm , I planted the asparagus that I had finally got going after 4 years of work.  I had dug them up from the this place to be transplanted.  I didn't want to leave them behind.  Hope I didn't shock it for this spring. I also took some of my chives out there and stuck them in by the garage shed....not having any idea where would be a good place.  I plan to transplant some of the iris Cathy gave me because they need thinning out, and I would like to have some of them out at the farm as well. There are actually a lot of flowers coming up all over out there, but until they bloom, I am not sure what we have.  You can see some coming up in the bottom left hand corner of the above photo. 
     I must admit, I am going to miss our large back deck with the pond, the shade trees, and all the landscaping (like this rock garden) that I have done.  Our house is in a great location, with a nice
neighborhood, and bike trail access.

   

     Although there is much I am going to miss about this place, the adventure of the farm is going to be new and exciting.  Every time we go out to our farm I realize how lucky and blessed we are.