Yup, Winter Comes to Arkansas Too!

I wrote part of this blog entry in January and didn't get it published... the info is still relevant so I will publish it now!

You know that song... "Baby it's cold outside..."? Well, I have been singing it to Jack all day long today (January 11 - Happy Birthday Chris)! Jack was required to take a road trip to Eldorado Arkansas today for work and I decided to ride shotgun. With temps down in the 20's last night and wind gusts hitting 40 mph during the day, I got a taste of what I left behind in MN. And I didn't like it! But there is so much more that I do like about Arkansas. So that means - yes, I am still happy to be living in the south!

After we got home, I took a very quick tour of my gardens. I do this when I am cold, to remind myself how fortunate I am to live in the south! I had to tie down the plastic on my cold frames and check to see that the veggies were still snug in their beds! Yes, in Arkansas, I have gardens growing all winter. Carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, kale, spinach, onions and garlic to be exact, all cool weather crops! I didn't grow enough to eat every day, but about once a week I am able to harvest something to add to our dinner. Tonight it was cabbage. I have two heads left in the garden but I was told if I didn't pull up the root of the cabbage plant, smaller cabbages would grow on the sides. I am testing that theory. I have harvested 6 cabbages so far and it looks like one of the plants may be trying to grow side shoots. I continue to harvest flowerettes off the broccoli. I hope to be able to continue doing this until May as I don't have any seeds started right now for new plants. The carrots are small but the beets are looking good!

Our winter this year has been on the warm side when you make a comparison to say, Minnesota! Our days typically top out in the 50's - nice weather for working outside. We actually spent last Saturday at our favorite crystal mine! And what a good day it was! Jack hit a sweet spot on one of the piles and for about an hour pulled crystal after crystal out of the earth! We were very pleased with our take when we got home and were able to clean off the mud and clay!

Now for the more current blog...

The Master Gardeners have geared up at the green house in Fountain Lake. (That is the little township we actually live in.) Our spring plant sale is the end of April so we have lots of plants to grow between now and then. I volunteered to be a mentor this year for incoming interns. I am now mentoring a woman from Royal, AR. She couldn't live farther from me if we tried! She is over an hour's drive from our place; she lives south of Hot Springs. We have hit it off and I am enjoying spending time and sharing my gardening knowledge with her! And, I even made the trek out to her place once all ready! She lives on a beautiful piece of land with views of fields and mountains... I can only see trees from my house so it was a nice change. We have the entire year to learn and play together! I am excited!

I know you are all dying to hear about the progress on our outdoor projects. Well, not only was it cold outside, it's been wet. Arkansas is very wet in the winter and spring, and that is good for gardens, bad for projects. When ever Jack takes off work or has a weekend off, it's typically raining! (or we are at the mine...lol) The storm shelter sits as we left it last August but the carport does have walls on all four sides. Ok, one of the walls is temporary, but it blocks the wind and rain for Sadie, our dog. We will probably get back to the storm shelter this spring, during tornado season!

Our big push right now is to get the gardens fenced in, again. Sadie has a difficult time doing her job when we keep her locked up during the night. The rabbits have taken over my gardens! Jack and I are working diligently to get the garden fenced so I can plant my cool weather crops. Actually I have planted them once all ready, but the rabbits were kind enough to mow them to the ground! They had help. I see evidence of the deer (they pushed down the soft plastic fences we installed last year)and an armadillo (she/he/it is aerating the beds all along the log borders.) Our new fence will be made from chicken wire, so we hope this will be strong enough.

We continue to plug away on our land. Each spring brings a new adventure and another round of weeds for me to battle. Jack has been bringing home truck loads of used carpeting for me this winter. I will use the carpeting as a weed barrier. Wish me luck... spring is here in Arkansas and I all ready hear the weeds plotting their next takeover! I'll of course, keep you posted!

2 Years???

Wow, two years since I have blogged... can that really be? Yup.

A friend of mine reminded me several days ago that I should be writing... I don't think she had my blog in mind, but it sparked a fire in me to come back and look at this old site. I read through some of my old blogs and felt the excitement of the time - just before moving into our new house on our new land.

It's been over two years and we are all moved in and as happy as two peas in a pod in our new home! And the excitement has never left us! We love our land and our home. If you asked about all the weeds that have moved in (they obscure the house in the photo) I could do without those. But that's another story for another day ...

We moved the house in October of 2009 and have been working on it ever since. We had a front porch added immediately as well as a large carport. There were several problems with all, but we have accepted that and acknowledge we live in Arkansas. And, those problems are minor considering all the joy we have found living in the woods and foothills of the Arkansas mountains. For those wondering, no Jack has not retired - he commutes over an hour each way to work so that we can live in paradise.

We have several ongoing projects that currently keep us out of trouble and hard at work on our land. Jack has spent the last year enclosing the carport and turning it into a garage... the addition of a dog in July necessitated getting the majority of it completed. Our newest member of the family - Sadie - now resides in the 3/4 finished garage.

Our other major projects have been trying to tame the yard, plant gardens and get a storm shelter built behind the carport. We have made progress on all three fronts, but as you can see from the photo, taming the yard is almost more than I can handle. Summer heat, hail and lack of rain have made the gardening part very difficult. Jack is doing a great job on the shelter though - he has the 14'x8'x8' hole dug and the floor poured. Inhumane summer temperatures and high humidity forced us indoors in August - we are looking forward to resuming our tasks once fall temperatures return in November.I jest - we hope to return to our outside projects in September.

We continue to visit our favorite crystal mine and are still working on the 50' diameter labyrinth in our front yard. Weeds have taken over that space as well. After so many trips to the mine, we are actually thinking about bringing some of our crystals up to MN to sell when we visit...the bigger question will be, what can I part with!

Life in Arkansas is forcing me to reevaluate my choices to live chemical free. As the weeds get taller than our house and the black widow spiders move into my compost bin, I am continually reminded I now live in the south. I see more bugs in a day then I saw in an entire year in Minnesota. Did I mention the 10,000 grasshoppers? Sadie keeps the snakes and rabbits in line but I do believe I need chickens to control the bugs and weed seeds. (I am told Guinea hens will eat both!) Can dogs and chickens co-exist in the same sentence?I am questioning whether or not they will find peace together in our yard!

There, I mentioned her again... Sadie. For those of you who know me very well, you may be surprised to hear we now have a dog that has chosen to live with us. She is a beagle/hound mix of some sort - we call her a beagle on stilts. And yes, I love her with all my heart! Sadie joined our family about two months ago. When we found her, she was starving to death as she had been abandoned at the crystal mine. We should have named her crystal because she is a gem... but she wanted to be Sadie. After many trips to the vet she is healthy again and has gained enough weight that her ribs and bones no longer show through her skin. She accepts us as her family and loves hanging out with me when I do my garden work. She especially loves "playing" with the rabbits. OK, she loves chasing the rabbits - that is her job after all. She doesn't like that we keep her in the garage, but she has access to a dog run that is 25' wide and about 70' long - the entire length of the back of our house! My kitchen garden is located there, so she hangs out with me when I out there too! You can bet no rabbits or deer get into my herbs!

Jack is still looking forward to retirement... it will happen someday. But for today, we are here and happy. And that's it for now from Jack, Joanne, the two cats, one sweet dog and 10,000 grasshoppers.

Constructing a House - the easy way

We have been told construction has begun!

I find if difficult to wait these days knowing that hundreds of miles from here our home is in construction phase and we don't get to watch it get built. That is the way with manufactured homes. From beginning to end, the home will be constructed indoors out of the elements - in 10 days or less!

We officially placed our order for our house August 19. We were told 30 days in process and then it would be shipped to Hot Springs. Next Thursday the 30 days is up and the house will be on it's way to us! Imagine a loud scream of excitement here!

As we wait, the land continues to undergo changes. For the last few weeks Jack and I have been spending a lot of time at the crystal mine. Each time we go, we fill the back of the truck with white quartz and beautiful crystal clusters. These are now lining the driveway on our land but eventually will be used to outline flower beds and make a labyrinth. We purchased a wood shredder at a yard sale and now have a way to make our own mulch from the trees and branches grown on our land.

I have been crazy about visiting our local Lowe's Store on a weekly basis. As their garden inventory dwindles, they put the remaining plants on sale for 75% off. I have purchased a variety of trees, shrubs, flowers, sedums and fruit plants from $3 to $1 each! I am very excited about the Angel Trumpets, elephant ear and the dinner plate hibiscus plants. Now, scattered around with all the quartz rocks are various sized potted plants, all waiting for their new home. Fortunately, Arkansas has had an unseasonably cool summer and I have not had to go to the land to water every day!


The shed/cabin/work shop work continues toward completion. We have made the structure our home away from home and love the time we are able to spend there. Jack worked hard to complete the deck and I worked on creating flowerbeds. We hope to spend next week shingling the roof and finishing the trim. Ok, I'll be honest here, Jack will do the shingling and trim - I will continue to play with and in the gardens. Inside insulation and sheetrock will wait perhaps until next spring. There is no hurry to finish that until the shed will actually be used as a workshop.

We believe we will be very busy out at the land next week so Jack has the week off from work. We expect to close on the house loan around Monday. The foundation for the house should be going in as well. Other projects include the installation of an electricity pole and digging trenches for the water, sewer, and electrical connections to the house. (This includes electricity to the workshop.) Once the house is "planted", we have ten days to build the front deck and the carport. I say "we" but I am including my contractor in this! He will be doing the majority of the work. Once the house is in place, I can begin planting the various perennials, shrubs and trees I have collected - at last count this was about 75 various plants. (That does not include the 100 iris plants a fellow master gardener gave me - those are all ready in a flower bed.) I also have about 2 dozen cannas to transplant from our rental house. And I was sad when I left all my plants in Minnesota!

Last week, we paid a security deposit for a tiny one bed room apartment in Bryant, AR. I wish we could move out to our land permanently when the house is done, but we have two more years till Jack retires. Trust me, we will be out there as often as possible until it we retire there! I should have the gardens done by then!

Wow, February? Really?

Was it really February the last time I posted? Guess it's time to do some catching up!

It's a rainy July morning in Arkansas. The sky has rumbled all morning and finally Father Sky is releasing the blessed rain. Jool, our cat, is not too pleased with the commotion... she continually tries to climb up my shoulder for comfort.

Our Arkansas Adventure continues to bring us great joy. We love our land and are excited about all the changes that have taken place over the months. The land is now cleared and leveled, ready to accept our home. Our contractor took out more trees than I thought necessary at the time, but now I am happy with the openness of the area around where our home will sit. (More garden space in the sun.) We added raised beds along the driveway and forsythias and iris now welcome us as we drive up the lane. Several weeks ago we began building a shed for all our garage treasures. There will be no garage on our new house to begin with so Jack needed somewhere to store all his tools. Actually building the shed has gone slow due to equipment problems and time restraints. We hope to "get er done" this weekend when we will spend yet another long weekend laboring in the process of building. The septic system was installed about a month ago and while we were vacationing in Branson MO, the electric company visited our land and installed poles and electricity to the neighborhood! We will get hooked up after the house is delivered. All that is left is pouring concrete footings and delivering the house!

Last week, Jack and I excitedly made the drive to Hot Springs to visit Clayton Homes; the manufacturer/distributor of our new home. We submitted our paperwork for the bank loan and selected all the features we want in our dream home. We are anxiously waiting for loan approval and wondering what the price tag for our home will come in at. We restrained ourselves from structural frills like brick exterior and super high roofs but added features that would enhance our living experience - like a built-in desk, big tubs and lots of book cases for all my crystals and books!

If all goes according to plan, our new house will be delivered in late September and we can move in immediately! The cats will move out to the house in December when our lease is done on this rental house. We have found a very small affordable 1 bedroom apartment in Benton that will serve us well until Jack retires. (His darn cell phone still doesn't work on our land.) Once we are settled, Jack will really have a hard time keeping me away from the crystal mine!

It still amazes me that we have been in Arkansas now for 8 months. The time flies by so quickly and before we know it, we will be celebrating Christmas in our new home. I am looking forward to seeing you all as our guests! Happy Summer! Joanne

Below is a link to the floor plan of the final house we ordered for our land. We have flipped it so the door to the carport will be on the west side. Let us know what you think! You will have to cut and paste the URL to your browser!

http://www.sehomes.com/customer/details.php?model=EZ-436

Manifesting

Manifesting

Jack and I did a ceremony at our church on New Years. In the ceremony we let go of everything that was keeping us from connecting with our Christ center by performing a burning ceremony. We wrote down everything we wanted to let go of on flash paper and then symbolically burned it up. Once you create a hole, you need to fill it up or the negative will come back. We were each asked to fill the emptiness with a written description of what our dreams and desires looked like for the New Year. The pastor said she would mail the letters to us in July so that we could see the power of prayer and manifesting.

It was an easy letter to write. Jack and I wanted to see prosperity in the lives of all our family and friend’s lives, as well as our own. We defined that prosperity as an overflowing abundance in love, health, finances, knowledge and spirituality. I wanted a fulfilling job, Jack filled in with his own personal wishes. Both of us wrote on how we wanted to get a home on our land before he retired from Walgreens. (That is at least 2 ½ years away.) We also wrote that we wanted to keep our house payment as low as possible as we planned to live in this house for many years after we retired. We asked that God’s will to be done, for our highest good. You know where this is going…

Last night we headed out to visit our favorite rep, Darla, at Clayton Homes in Hot Springs. We wanted to let her know about the model home we were thinking about purchasing at Luv Homes and wanted to get a quote from her on what our dream home would cost if we ordered one from her. We also wanted to know if we could still use Bud for the bulldozing work if we didn’t buy from her. Bud is an independent contractor that does all the preliminary home site work for Clayton Homes – before the house is actually delivered. He quoted all the jobs we need done and we really liked his honesty and his price!

We are so happy we decided to come clean with Darla! It turns out Luv Homes is a sister company of Clayton Homes. The same parent company owns both! Darla told us if we chose to buy the model home, she could have it transferred to her lot and she would make the sale. That meant we could still use Bud for either home! More importantly, Darla would still be our rep no matter which home we decided to purchase.

All that was left for us to do was decide on which home we wanted. We could buy the model home now and get a break on the price or wait and order a home in November and get exactly what we wanted. The final decision came down to the fireplace and comparing the mortgage payment/total cost for each option. It seems we couldn’t add a fireplace to an existing prefab home as no insurance company would cover it! With the recent power outages because of ice storms, having a second heat source was important to us.

We asked Darla for a quote on the cost of ordering our dream home with all the changes we invisioned. In less than 24 hours she called us back with the news. The difference in the cost between buying the model home and ordering our dream home was only $3,500 – the same amount we would have to pay in additional rent if bought early! The decision was a no brainer - we decided to wait and order our dream home in several months. The house will be on our property, ready to live in, sometime in late September or October. I can’t believe it – in less than a year from moving here, we will be living in our dream home on our land (part time) – with an unbelievable low house payment – about a third of what we were paying in MN.

Now that’s manifesting!

The Next Big Decision

Several weeks ago I wrote about our decision to purchase a manufactured home. Last week, Jack and I stopped in at another manufactured home site and found our dream home on their lot. We were just looking as there are about a dozen of these places around here that sell pre-fab homes. It was so fun seeing our future home and walking through the kitchen and living spaces.

The model home on display didn’t have the fireplace in the living room, the sliding glass door off the dining room or French doors into the den like we wanted, but it was the exact layout of what we are planning to buy! You can imagine our excitement when we found out the model home was for sale – available for immediate delivery – at a $14,200 discount. And, the company would throw in the cost of building the foundation the house would sit on- as a bonus.

This has been a lesson on trusting our intuition and listening to the inner voice of God. We immediately went home and began meditating and praying. And we continue to ask God if we are to take the model home or if we are to wait as planned and order our dream home in October.

We have done lots of comparing. If we bought the model home, we would be “settling” on something less than what we wanted. But, we could make a lot of improvements with $14,000. We would also be putting this house up in April – about 6 months ahead of our plan. Although we plan on renting something in the Benton area for weekdays, we don’t really want to have the $1000 rental house bill and a house payment. We figure we would be overpaying rent by $3600 through November but would be able to homestead our house a year faster. If we “ordered” our home, we would be making more decisions about the interior of the home, like deciding on floor, carpet and wall colors. We would have the house built more to our liking - with the fireplace, sliding glass door and den. And of course we knew, some of the changes would involve additional charges.

Next we looked at our two sales reps. Darla is a sweetheart and we totally trust her. She gave us line item costs for everything that needed to take place to get the land ready for the home. She connected us with a contractor that would do most of the ground work if we went with her. We loved the contractor’s honesty and willingness to work with our plan. (Even though he can’t save all the trees.)

Both Jack and I had an uneasy feeling about the person we would be working with if we bought the model home. We didn’t feel like he would be dishonest, but he was already pushing a $15,000 beautification package for getting the home and grounds “installed”. We like the idea of itemized costs rather than a package deal that would contain things we don’t want or need. And he kept saying "bring in your land deed; bring in your land deed"… hmmmm

I am so thankful we don’t have to make the decision over night. As a matter of fact we get the sense that we are to take our time and really understand the benefits of one home over the other. I have to admit, I liked the idea of having our home delivered by April. But I am not going to let my excitement get in the way of what is best. I don’t believe the money is the greatest factor in our decision. So, for the next week or two we will continue to gather the facts and pray for Gods guidance as we make our next big decision.

Spring is in the Air

I warmed up the ole garden tiller yesterday! I love digging in the earth and planting. Yesterday afternoon was all about breaking up the soil, adding the compost and enriching the garden with mulch and fresh black dirt. Today, I plant.

For the past few weeks I have been outside cleaning up the vacant lots on either side of our house. It saddens me that the builders of this community had to leave such a mess on every vacant lot - old lumber, broken trees, remnants of plumbing and pipes, clumps of cement, piles of debris; bits and pieces of other peoples homes left behind to pollute the land of future home builders. Add to that years of weeds and neglect and it makes a very unsightly mess. We have these messes on both sides of our rental home.

Little by little, Jack and I have been picking up the pieces and throwing them out with our weekly trash. We have cleared away weeds and made room for a vegetable garden. The dumped boards will find a home in garden projects on our land. The re-bar became markers for identifying where our house will go in and tomato stakes in the future. We recycle what we can and throw out what should have been disposed of year's ago. We are loving the transformation - even the energy around our home feels uplifted.

A while back a friend explained to me why she sensed gardening is so important to me. I am a "feeler" - in the psychic realm I am known as an empath. I pick up on what other people are feeling and take it on. Whether I am driving down the road or walking through a mall, I attract what is going on around me and feel the emotion as if it is my own. There was a time when I didn't understand what was happening. I would be feeling great (myself) one moment and then walk into work and suddenly I would shift to some other emotion. I would feel tension or anger, apathy or fear; whatever was being sent out by those around me. I have learned now to block it or - when I take it in, to find a way to release it. When I garden, I release that energy back into the earth to be transmutated. I love the feeling of being grounded and get great satisfaction from planting and cultivating beautiful gardens. The process is also very peaceful for me and I feel it is where I experience my greatest God connection.

Saturday morning I finally connected with the Master Gardener program here in Saline County. For whatever reason, I was not able to connect until now and missed the training for this area. I will be allowed to volunteer with the other Master Gardeners but will have to take the training next January before I am officially a Master Gardener in Arkansas. One of the gardeners adopted me for the afternoon and took me around to view the various projects managed by the Master Gardeners. It seems that Benton wants to be the capitol of Crepe Myrtles. They are everywhere from small shrub to tree size! I guess I will be planting a few of these on my land as they are very beautiful in both the spring and the fall. And yes, I am already making plans for the pond we will have on our new land!

It actually feels good volunteering before I take the training. I will have a year to learn and explore the area. I have a multitude of wonderful teachers to teach me about the difference of gardening in zone "8" (This area was recently upgraded from zone 7 - another symptom of global warming.) Did you know that tulips are considered an annual here? Yup, there is not a cool enough period of time after the tulips bloom to allow the bulbs to rebuild. We get too hot to fast! I am behind the season as I should have already planted my broccoli and cabbage - that can go in mid February! Oh, we have two growing seasons in Arkansas. The first is now through the end of June and the second starts the end of August. Guess the plants don't like the heat and humidity of July and August. I wonder if Jack and I will...

Our forecast for the next 10 days is mid to upper 50's moving into the 60's. It appears we will not drop below freezing for the next 10 days. Hmmmm, Spring is in the air - I am so tempted to plant a tomato bush!

California, Facebook and the Soul

I spent this past week in California and all I have to show for it is my new facebook account. Ok, so I got a little bit of a suntan, managed to read a few books and visited the ocean. It was a good week.

Jack had to go to LA California for a week of training on the AGFA machine for Walgreens. This is the big machine hanging out in the photo department that prints beautiful pictures - when it's not broken down. We have one such machine in Little Rock and Jack will now be responsible for it's care. There was actually a repair ticket on the machine waiting for him when we got home last night at midnight.

While Jack studied and learned about this fabulous machine, I hung out at the pool, read and played with our computer in our hotel room. On the two evenings when Jack was let out of class before dark, we headed to the ocean and enjoyed the water and the sunsets. I felt no draw to visit the sites in the area alone. Even Disneyland held no attraction for me - which is good, because we had no time.

I spent my days at the hotel - walking, dining alone, hanging out at the pool and in our room. And that is when it happened! A friend sent me a link to join facebook and I decided - why not - I have time to learn. I followed the link and was transported into a new cyber land of faces, details and photos of family and friends from my way distant past! I am now connected with a group of really dear people in my life, three of which are old friends from my Jr High years in Raton New Mexico! How cool is that!

California was also good for me in that I had lots of time to do some soul searching. I am struggling to understand where I am supposed to head next in the job market. My skills are in the corporate world, but my heart is somewhere else all together. The head says get a job; make money, work, work, work. The heart says I have been given this opportunity to follow my dreams - look around - explore. It was really important for me to look inside and find where the messages were coming from and what was motivating my actions.

It all came together last night at the Dallas - Fort Worth Airport- gate 4. We were waiting for our plane and chatting about the week and all that we both had learned. Larry King and guests were blaring overhead - talking about shooting wolves in Alaska and how to find a job in this wonderful job market. The guest said something that really resonated with me. I don't remember his words exactly, but what I heard was - chuck the old, do something fun, make a change! Follow the heart! He gave several examples of what others had done and then gave a list of the industries that were still hiring in this tough market. Jack and I were chatting about jobs and dreams and expectations at the same time... I shared my thoughts and fears and self imposed expectations. I was able to get really clear about what Jack was seeing, what I wanted and the boundaries I was creating for myself around working and contributing to our partnership of marriage. As we talked, I felt this weight being lifted off my shoulders and I could see that there was room and opportunity for me to branch out without fear of letting Jack or myself down. Our sharing opened me up to a place where I could give myself permission to explore without worry of the income or the skill requirements or limiting expectations - mine or Jack's.

Right now, I don't know what my future work life looks like. But, I am excited to start exploring and see where my intuition leads me. You can bet, first on my list will be several local garden centers! And I know my next job will definitely be green!

Our Dream Home, Delivered!

Floor plan view of our "Dream Home"

Jack and I have made our decision. We will be buying a manufactured home for our property rather than build a house on site.

We were able to make it to Hot Springs again to visit our favorite pre-fab home manufacturer’s rep, Darla. For over an hour we bombarded her with our many questions. When the grilling was done, we were satisfied. She was going to be making a sale.

We picked out a lovely 1,800+ square foot home with three bedrooms, an office, fireplace and oak kitchen cabinets. Our dining area will feature a 5 foot sliding glass door and our heating/cooling system will be a heat pump. We would have liked to do the geothermal system but we were told that runs another $25,000 – installed.

On Sunday, we met the site development person, Bud, at our property. For about $1,000 Bud is going to level out our hill - so our prefab house can go in along with space reserved for a carport. For $300 + materials he will create our driveway out of a gravel and clay mix that is very popular around here. We have to move our septic system location from the original plan...it doesn't fit in the current area. Bud will work with the original guy who mapped it out to get the plans changed and get the update approved with the county and heath board channels. The foundation of the house, connecting electric and plumbing and anything else required to set up the house will be done by the installers. Once the house is in place, we will be responsible for adding the decks and a carport/shed. How is that for manifesting easy!!!

There is some sad news though. As much as I wanted to save the trees, it's going to be brutal. Bud said he is required by law to grade the land away from the house by at least 10 feet. This is to insure that water does not drain under the house which would cause black mold; a serious problem around here because of our hot and humid summers. Also, our lot slants in two directions away from the top of the hill. Bud and his crew will have to level it in both directions to get the home to sit level and drain properly. There is at least a 6 foot drop from east to west and equally as large a drop from north to south. A lot of earth will have to be moved to the lower areas.

Our septic system plan involves four - 75 foot long trenches – dug 4 feet deep for laying the drainage system. That is in addition to the tank area and the pipes that go up to the house. The installer will use a backhoe for this work. It is possible to go around the larger trees, but the tree root systems will be compromised. All the smaller trees will be removed as they are too small to go around. The Oak trees are the majority of smaller trees.

In addition to all of that - the home is delivered in two halves on trailers. The site will have to be graded so the truck drivers can pull the house into position and still have room to drive the truck and trailer around the other side and get back to our driveway. There is a sharp drop on the east side of the house down to a gully that runs to the creek. Even if we put in a site built home, a lot of this work would need to take place to secure this side of the land. It was a sad day on Sunday, for me and the trees.

The upside of this is that we will now have a nice area to build a pond on the east side of the house, and we will have additional sunny areas for planting gardens. We were told that most of the trees growing on our land are considered scrub by the locals. Other than the oak trees, what is left is fast growing pines and a lot of weedy shrub stuff. We plan to replace a lot of the lost trees with Oak, Maple and local trees. I am thinking a magnolia tree in the front yard would be awesome!!! Zone 7 – I have a lot of trees to choose from!

We have also made decisions on our timing! Our current plan is to have the site leveled and the drive way put in by the end of March. This will give the land and drive way time to settle before we actually move the house in this fall. We are looking at having the house delivered November 1. That would give us a month to move out of our rental house and find a cheap apartment somewhere in Little Rock. Our plan is to live in the little apartment during the week and live out on the land on weekends, holidays and when Jack takes vacations. Preliminary numbers confirm that we will be able to rent a small place and pay our mortgage for the same amount we are currently paying for rent! Now I am wishing we only had a 6 month lease on this place. The time will be good though - in November the place won’t look so much like a construction zone when we move in as we will have the whole summer to work on landscaping!!!

The Land Is Calling

Here we are on one of our many adventures at our land. Even with little rain in the past few weeks, our creek is flowing at a fast rate! Behind Jack is our creek to the east and behind Joanne is our creek to the west.

Our land has been calling to us a lot lately. When Jack was not on call this month, we hung out at the land. We absolutely love it there and realized there is no way we can wait for Jack’s retirement to build our home!

One of our top priorities while visiting our lot this month was to determine where we would build our home. We wanted to be on the top of our hill, but not risk falling off into the ravine by the creek. We also wanted to be sure the builders would have adequate space to move their machinery around with minimal damage to the trees. I want to protect as many of the trees as possible. We spent hours moving around the stakes and running guide lines. The whole time we discussed all the work ahead of us. Because there are no housing codes out in the country we realized we would be babysitting this project to be sure everything was done to our expectations. And, there was so much we were going to have to do on our own if we were going to be able to afford the house of our dreams and still have a small house payment!

After marking out the dimensions of the dream home and spending some time cleaning up brush and trash; we headed to Hot Springs for a quick meal. On the way, we went by another one of those manufactured home places. We had spent a day in December checking out these type homes and were really impressed with what we saw. We were concerned though about the homes depreciating rather than appreciating in value, and had a lot of questions still. We decided to stop again and learn more about these homes.

Two hours later, we left with a bunch of our questions answered, a pile of brochures and a web site address to explore for more home design options. We had toured several of the homes and were really impressed with the quality and design of the homes. We realized with a manufactured home, we could buy a better quality built home for a lot lower price- like about 35% less than the cost of building a stick house. The manufactured home would be built to code because of all the HUD supervision at the manufacturing site. Most importantly, we didn’t need to hire a contractor or babysit the project – the manufacturer would take care of everything from site preparation to water and electric hook up. And, most of the costs were included in the price of the home!

We went home and read through all the materials and thoroughly explored the website! On the last page of the website was this really nice home with about 200 more feet of space than we were looking for. But, the house met all of our requirements for our dream home and the extra features were really nice.

Somehow we knew, we wouldn’t be building a home, we would be buying a manufactured home instead. And, once it was delivered – we could move in immediately. Now all we had left to do was figure out the timing.