I Gotta Get Me One Of These!

In the country, there is a difference between a riding mower and a riding mower. City folks have garden tractors, country folks have ZTR Mowers that cost as much as a used car. We fall into the 1st group. We have a garden tractor, which takes 6 hours to mow everything. Hubby's friend let him use his Hustler mower, and he was able to get it done in 2 hours. So his response was, "I gotta get me one of these!" And I also learned that like a car, if it needs to go in the shop, they give you a loaner. I don't even get a loaner when I take my truck in--go figure!

Battle of the Barn Swallows

How many of you have birds nesting above your front door and no matter how many times you knock down their nest, they insist on building in the same place? Not many of you, didn't think so.

For those of you who don't know, the swallows are a migratory bird that return to the same place every spring to build a nest and have babies. My folks have swallows on their front porch, and every year they return, rebuild their next, and we get to watch the baby birds. Everytime mama comes with some food, they all stick their little heads up with their mouths open, hoping to get a bite.

Oh, did I mention they build their nests out of mud?

Hubby knocked their nest down 3 or 4 times, only to have them come right back, sometimes within the hour, to start building again. I thought it was comical. Hubby, not so much. We wouldn't mind if they would just relocate on down the porch, but not right over the front door!

I got online to see what people were doing to get rid of barn swallows. Ideas were aluminum foil, fake rubber snake, fake owl, bird spikes, different bird repellants. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think I want a fake rubber snake over my front door. We went with the foil. It actually works!!! We just put a strip of foil over the door, after cleaning off all of the mud, and they have not tried to rebuild.

So in case you need to relocate some barn swallows, foil does the trick. Hubby 1, Swallows 0.

Living in the Country is Expensive

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. Actually, I can believe it because I've been so freakin' busy! We moved the end of May into our new house. There are no enough hours in the day to get everything put where it goes. We've actually got all the boxes emptied except for the stuff that was stored in the basement--I think we couldn't stand seeing all those boxes in the garage. We still haven't parked in the garage though, but when we do it will be such a treat!

Ok, the expensive part...

1. Buddy is still playing baseball at our old school district, so we are driving across town 3 days a week for games. That gas budget envelope is empty!!
2. Because of the timing of games and travel back and forth, we have been eating out ALOT! I think we're gonna have to pack a cooler or something. (Maybe at baseball they'll have extra treats and we can just eat those for dinner--gatorade and a rice krispy treat--YUM!)
3. I wasn't aware that gravel roads were tougher than truck tires. Hubby has had 2 flat tires in 1 week. He was not so pleasant to be around. One of his more Tone-Deaf moments.

On the upside, I have some great pictures to post that make it all worthwhile. The views from our house are incredible. We've watched several sunsets, something we never took time to do in town. I think we're all getting more exercise by just being outside and walking around exploring. (I'm either going to lose weight from the increase in exercise, or I'm going to gain weight because I'm so hungry from all the exercise.) And our dogs love running around like nuts!

Oh, and lets update the pet count. In town we had: 2 dogs, 1 cat. Currently we have: 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 bunnies.

I will try to get pictures uploaded ASAP!

Today's the Day!

Yea! We are "suppose" to close on our homestead today! Third time's a charm.

Our friends are going thru the same thing. The appraisers are all super busy with the refinancing that's going on. So they have to work refi's and house sales and I'm sure they're meeting themselves coming and going. The way things were going, my hubby thought I needed to change the name to 54 acres of stress, or (fill in the blank). I know we haven't slept good since we started this move. Change is stressful, but I'm sure it will be worth it. I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet--just sitting and enjoying the view.

I have LOTS of ideas for what we could do out there (animals, garden, etc), but one thing at a time. We are definitely not farmers, so I need to make sure I don't go crazy and come home with some goats or something (which I'm pretty sure I'm going to get--and name Tina--from Napoleon Dynamite).

Bubba wants a bunny and Buddy wants to ride his dirt bike, so that should keep them busy for about 5 minutes....

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

Anyone remember that commercial with the owl? Ah one, ah two, ah three "crunch"--three. It only takes 3 licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, but it takes a bunch of showings to get a contract on a house. We have had a couple of 2nd showings, so maybe that will pan out.

As far as closing on the new house....MAYBE this Friday. Haven't heard anything today, but it sounded promising. If all goes well, I'll have to get back into packing mode (I've been slacking for a while now).

Appraisers are like weathermen...

There is another profession where someone can do their work wrong and still keep their job--our appraiser.

No, we did not close on our house this past Friday because apparently 35 days isn't enough time for the appraiser to get his report written and turned in. Our realtor tried to be nice and ask him if he prioritized his workload by those that needed to be done right away (had a scheduled closing date) and those that could wait. Of course, his answer was no. I don't think it ever dawned on him.

Now, I haven't met the man, but I can't believe everyone else was ready except him, and because of that, he held up a sale for everyone. Actually, he did "rush" and fax the appraisal to the loan company by 11:30 pm the night before, but lo and behold, it was wrong. We're told it was missing key info (have you written one of these before???). Anyway, we were disappointed. Hubby more than me, because he wanted to start moving the garage and shed stuff out there before we actually move, which will be when school's out.

So maybe this week....

Packing

How's the packing going, you ask? Not very quickly....
Yeah, I still have some empty boxes in my garage to fill, but I haven't been motivated to just pack up the whole house. Although Grammy says it looks more bare everytime she comes over. Let's see...we close in May? Plenty of time! Oh wait! It will be May in a couple of days!! Well, maybe that will motivate me! I have some boxes from work, but I think I may have to break down and buy some moving boxes. All Hubby wants to do is move his garage and shed first. Apparently that stuff is more important. Go figure.

We don't plan on actually moving until school's out. but we're supposed to close May 8, so we'll have a couple of weekends to haul some things to the new homestead.

We got an estimate from the movers....I think we need to haul a BUNCH of stuff early, so we can fit the rest of our junk on one big truck. Too much stuff, and I thought I had purged a bunch already.

Kids Idea for living in the Country

Son: As soon as we move I'm building a dirt bike track!

Daughter: I'm not moving, I come with the house. (She's slowly coming around).

What's in a Name?

Ok, I changed the name of my blog again. I didn't know there was so much pressure in having a catchy name! I think I'm satisfied now. Good thing I don't have any followers yet, or they'd already be lost.

Name change

Ok, the hubby didn't like "ranchette." So Davis Area 54 is as creative as I could come up with.

12 days til Close

There's only 12 days til we close on "the ranchette."

I was trying to come up with a nifty blog name for our new adventure in country living. I thought about area 54 (like area 51 and we have 54 acres, but it was already taken--even though that blog hasn't been updated since 2007). Another idea I had was "no hat, no cattle", because I don't have either. It's used in Texas and actually means someone who talks big but doesn't know what they're talking about. I thought it was cute, but didn't quite fit. So, I'll call our "place" the ranchette (or ranchito, for a hispanic flair). I don't know if it's really a ranch without any animals. But we have 2 dogs and a cat, so that's a start.