Dawn419 & doc's LSTA: Confounded Computer!!!

[framing fowl]

lightly wooded So how did you choose AR? Did you just look for property in the southeast and end up there or did you have that general area of the state in mind?

 

[Dawn419]

Good morning framing fowl!

To make a short story long, doc and I got a settlement from our bike wreck (kid ran his red light) and after getting the hospital bills and other expenses paid off we decided we wanted to invest what was left of the money into a place of our own instead of continuing to pay some one else rent.

We spent a lot of time looking for a place in and around Middle TN, where we were living at the time, but prices on land were ridiculous. I'm talking 5 acres of land with a well for $50,000.00 and that was the cheapest we found there.

So, I got the bright idea to come visit some of my transplanted family out here and we asked my mom and stepdad if they'd be interested in selling us 5 acres of their 38 acres. They said yes, we were thrilled and went back to TN with the highest of hopes. A few days after we were back "home" , mom called and said they'd discussed it more after we left and didn't think it would work out. Talk about forgetting how to breath! Those words just stopped our world (temporarily) and it was just numbing, at the time.

A few days after "mom dropped the bomb", she called and said there was an ad in the local sales rag that sounded like what we where looking for. So we made our second trip out here and after agreeing with my stepdad that we wouldn't buy the first place we looked at, we did exactly that!

We took one look at 8+ acres, that turned out to be two 8+ tracts side by side, and fell in love/felt at home at first sight.

So for just under 50 grand, we've got close to 17 acres of trees, native edibles, wildlife galore AND owner financing (which we couldn't find in TN). The left-over settlement money didn't last long but it got us out here and camping and we're making baby step improvements as we can and loving all of it!

We're about 25 minutes from the family, which is close enough, but not too close. We've met some great new friends, one of whom helped get doc hired on at his current job (which he loves and earns good money at for the area). We miss our friends back in TN but stay in touch with them and can't wait to have the room for them to come visit here. We'd have them out now but there are too many rocks to comfortably to pitch a tent.

We're so glad we didn't move to mom and dad's now...they live across the road from a "chicken house" and there's a neighbor who can't/won't control their dogs..would have been a lot more trouble than it was worth !

Well, I hope your eyes still work,if you've read this whole post, cuz I've done a fine job of making this short story long!

 

[Denim Deb]

Just think if you had bought the land from your folks, you could have been living the life of Everyone Loves Raymond!

Years ago, we were going to buy land from my OH's BIL. We're so glad now that we didn't. While we wouldn't have been able to see it from the house, they put a LAND FILL in less than a mile away!

 

[savingdogs]

Things often work out for the best even when you think something bad is happening. You just don't realize it at the time. Being 1/2 hour from relatives sounds like the perfect distance. Just far enough that they would call before dropping in, but not too far away to make it hard to visit.

 

[rebecca100]

Arkansas is a good place to find land pretty cheap. I LOVE living here in a small town. When dh and I went to buy a place we bought it from the mayor/insurance salesman/realtor. My parents had bought their land from his dad and so on. We got 10 acres in the middle of nowhere with a blocked well and an old mobile home for 12,000. He even talked to the bank for us too since we had no credit. Not a single neighbor for a mile and then after that they were few and far between. The other day I saw land for sale up there 10 acres for 10,000.

 

[Dawn419]

Finally making it back. Doc had the past 3 days off and goes back to work today. We didn't get much done around here due to the intense heat...we hit 104.9 in the shade at 4:30 p.m. today. <- Not crying, melting!

DD, ELR would be close but Archie Bunker would be spot on!

SD, So true!

Rebecca,

What kills me with land being cheaper here is the people that move here and then want to see this gorgeous state changed to where they used to live.

We wanted to get out in the middle of nowhere but are glad we got our place on the highway as the backroadsto my mom's are in bad shape. We have traffic twice a day during the work "rush" hours but it's quiet the rest of the time.

I'll get our move here posted later today...I'm tired, it's finally cooled off and I need to be up early to work in the garden.

 

[savingdogs]

104.9 in the shade? Yikes? Maybe I'll stop complaining about the rain here.

We enjoy being in a remote location.....until the dead of winter when it snows.

 

[Dawn419]

Yeppers, sd, in the shade! We stayed in and hogged the fans. It's 85 right now and feels soooo nice!

Rain? Rain? Hmmm, I recognize that word...oh yeah, it's that stuff that falls from the sky, right?

We had a really wet late winter/early -middle spring season here and then it just kinda dried up and heated up. It was so wet that most of the farmers in our area didn't get their 1st cutting of hay done until early June. Usually they have the 1st cutting in May but the fields were just too wet to get into. A few of the people we know who "hay" have only gotten half the amount of what they'd usually have by now.

Well, the sky is looking pretty dark off to the west so I'm outta here for awhile. We have a chance of t-storms today and it takes my old puter forever and a day to turn on and shut down. I'll be back this evening to finally post the pix of our move!

 

[Denim Deb]

 

[Dawn419]

Well, the line of storms went south of us...again! Got soaker hoses going and decided to get out of the sun for an hour or so.

We made 1 more trip here just before our move and that was to bring our aquariums out and set them up at moms and bring my BIL, nephew, cousin and family friend back to TN to help us move the chicken coop, and a few large pieces of furniture.

The guys made quick work of the coop tear down and the loading of their trailer and headed back to AR, which flabbergasted doc_gonzo and I since they told us they'd make the trip back here with us to make sure we didn't have any trouble.

So Skip and I finished packing the camper and would head out early the next morning. September 20th we woke up to rain, rain and more rain...loaded up the 2 cages of chickens and the cat in her crate and started a loooong trip to our new home! It took us almost twice the amount of time to make the trip with the loaded camper and we made pit stops about every 2 hours to check on the animals in the camper. We parked the camper at mom's for the night and would move to our place on the 21st.

September 21, 2009: Our Big Day

Got up early to move to our place only to get down to the Dakota and camper and find ourselves stuck in the mud! Call sis & bil to come pull us out onto the driveway and asked them nicely to please not bring any of the dogs with them as we had the chickens and cat (which they already knew about) so they showed up with one of the dogs anyway and smirks on their faces. I was beyond mad and made a sweet little comment (loudly) about being so glad to see what asking nicely got us.

But we finally made it here in one piece. Got the cat and chickens unloaded first thing and set them in the shade while we got the camper in it's temporary home and unloaded their trailer and got the soft-side shed back up so we could store what needed to be in the dry.

After they left, doc and I got busy finishing the last few things on the flocks new home, got them in and settled and then it was time to clean out our home so we had a place to sleep.

The hoop coop (I have better pix, just not found them yet):





Inside of the U-Haul, I mean our camper:





We spent the first week in a little cleared area just off our fence line up by the road until the guy who did our dozer work could get back out here and get our gravel finished.

First camp:







One tired little road-trippin girl:



Our first sunset at our new home (this made all the stress and aggravation worthwhile!):



Well, gonna get back out and get some things done and will post more later!