RIP Honey Mustard

Honey & Lemon. 1 week old
April 2009

I went out to the chicken coop/run today to say hello to the girls, Jasper, and to fix the make-shift roof I made over part of the run that protects the chicks and bunny from the hot sun during the day. I was walking around, looking for eggs as usual, and I spotted Honey. Dead.

Honey. About 2 weeks ago.

I was so upset!  I know she was just a chicken. But she was the first chicken we got. We got her and Lemon as chicks in April of 2009. She was what started the whole Hobby Farm idea going in motion. It's been a sad day for me.

We don't know what happened. The birds are in an eight foot tall enclosed run connected to their coop (a shed). Although I know we have foxes and coyotes, I don't know how they would have gotten in, and back out. There were no holes dug under the fence.

The chicken coop.
The fenced run is in the back.

We're thinking it might have been a hawk. There is no top, and it's the likely conclusion. Although, since the bird was still there, and wasn't taken...I just don't know. I guess a feral cat or raccoon could have scaled the fence. She could have for all we know gotten bit by something poisonous. We're just too green here to figure it out, probably. I took some advice I read online, and have hung strings across the top with cd's hanging from it to deter the hawks. It looks like a disco tech now - hehe.

The chickens in their run.

Honey was a sweet bird. She was just over two years old. She was at the top of the pecking order. She was the boss. When you came in to the run, she'd follow you around everywhere, just to make sure your not messing with anything. You could pet her, and hold her. She was essentially a pet...not just a farm chicken.




She laid the hugest, heaviest brown eggs. You'd hear her caw at about 11am every morning announcing that she laid an egg. If she was hungry or thirsty, she'd let you know....she wouldn't stop calling until you came out and took care of her.

I found a good spot on a hill in the back 'yard' and burried her. I know, it's just a chicken. But she was our pet. This will be our pet graveyard. Sad day.

I will miss you very much!

RIP Honey Mustard

Trip to the big city....

So, today we were working on the truck (story later on that), and we needed a tool.  A wrench. That's it. A simple, 18mm open-end/boxed-end wrench. Unfortunately the closest tool store is Ace Hardware in Elizabeth...about 50 minutes away.  That'd be a good 2 1/2 trip today just to get a damn wrench. Well hell, they are expensive as hell anyway, and I did't want to go there. So, we decided that for 15 more minutes of driving (one way), we'd head to the big city and make an afternoon of it. We had pretty much lost the afternoon for fixing the car anyway having to go get a tool, so why not.

The nearest BIG city is Aurora. Big city means a city with a population of over 50,000. Now that's chump change from where I come from... The Ft. Lauderdale area. But around here, that's a BIG city. You figure, the nearest 'real' town here has a population of less than 500 people...that's Deer Trail. These towns don't have gas stations, grocery stores, or any other business' a city girl is used to. I'm used to fast food, Sam's Club, dollar stores, big chain stores, health food stores, and any other number of retailers just a hop skip & a jump away. This has been tough move on me and my girly retail therapy, I tell you!

So, after mapping out a route, we took off. My son wasn't all that happy, he's kind of tired of long road trips. He can't stay home by himself. He's old enough, and I trust him, but four to six hours alone, without a phone or a neighbor closer than a quarter mile away, I just don't feel comfortable. Maybe that's just the parinoid Florida girl in me, but that's how it is. So, he armed himself with a Star Wars book, and we were off.

An hour and ten minutes later, we were in the city. OMG OK, I've been to lots of cities in Colorado, but I swear I had closed my eyes and woke up back in South Florida. The roads, the traffic, the medians, the concrete, the people.....it was South Florida!  I know ya'll don't understand, but Colorado is VERY different from Florida. It's hard to explain....just take my word for it.

So anyway, we went to Harbor Freight to get the wrench (a wrench set), and picked up some other stuff while they were there.  I mean, it's an awesome store, and you can't beat the prices when they're having a sidewalk sale!! After a quick browse at the Dollar Tree in the same lot, we headed to Sam's Club for gas. You can't beat club gas prices. It was .20 cheaper a gallon than the gas station on the same corner. And of course, while your at Sam's, you just gotta get a big fat buttery salted pretzel and an Icee, right?! After my son and I got our indulgences, we walked around. I picked up a couple recipe magazines and a new vacuum, since mine died this week. If you have three dogs, a long haired cat, three kids (yes, I include hubby in there), and live off a dusty dirt road, you just cannot go without a vacuum! We headed off to Sprouts for some fruits & veggies. I've been going crazy with no produce in the house. I moved here too late to plant a garden, and the Wal-Mart I go to in Elizabeth doesn't really have a good selection. So it was a stop I just HAD to make while here, ya know. We got excited that there was a Halloween City next door....but it wasn't open. Poo! We then traveled to our last destination, the auto parts store to get another part for the truck. Throughout the entire city excursion I looked around, kept an eye out for stores so next time I come out here to go shopping, I have an idea of what is here. I was happy to see a Burlington Coat Factory. Haven't been to one of those since the Sawgrass mall. There was also a Toys R Us, which will be good to know come Black Friday.

We knew we wanted to take in dinner while we were here. We don't get the option of calling for Chinese take-out, or pizza when I don't want to cook where we live. We can't run to Taco Bell or McDonalds if I'm too beat to cook either. We didn't have time to sit down & eat in a restaurant, but that's OK. We were trying to decide whether to go to Wing Stop or a NYC Style pizza joint. We used to eat at Wing Stop in FL. Hubby loved their cajun wings, and I loved their fries. I haven't eaten at one since we moved out here four years ago. They had Buffalo Wild Wings, and some other wings place in Greeley, but neither compared to Wing Stop. Of course NOTHING compares to Wings Plus in Coral Springs. Oooohhh....how I miss that place. Oh, sorry, I started to drool. Anyway, even though the wings sounded good, I chose the pizza place. I haven't had a NY style pizza in over four years. That's the kind they sell in Florida pizzeria's and I miss it soooooooooo much. All they have here in Colorado is Chicago style. While it's good, nothing beats a thin, greasy, more cheese than crust NY pizza! I was really hoping that since they were a NY pizzeria they'd also have garlic rolls. No dice. It's so strange, these people out here don't know what garlic rolls are! They have garlic bread.....it's not the same thing. :-(

We got a large pepperoni pie & took it on the road, back to our little rural area with dirt roads and no stores. It was late afternoon, and the thunderstorms were rolling in. That's the problem with going out...you don't want to be coming back in the rain. Not on these dirt roads! You gotta make the most out of your city trips, and make them quick.

We were gone almost six hours. Hard to believe; We didn't do much. You figure it was three hours drive round trip, then about two & a half hours driving around and shopping in the city. It was a good day though. Sure, we didn't get to fix the car...again, but we got some things we needed, and some damn good pizza at Anthony's!

The car....we'll work on some more tomorrow.

Whazziss? : Arachnid

Whazziss?

This is a section of the blog where I ask you, a question. As we go about our lives here in Deer Trail, we have run across some....odd things. Some are things we're just new to, some are wild birds & animals, some are things we've just never seen before, some are what look like mutant bugs.

It's an honest question too. I'd really like some feedback on letting me know what these things are.

So, when I post a "Whazziss?" post, what I'm really asking is, What in the world is this??!!

---

Our first "Whazziss", is this scorpion-looking, spider-looking bug. It was rather large, quite transparent, and creepy looking. It was in the little red wagon when we got home one day. I had a hard time getting a clear shot, but here it is. WHAT IS IT?

Is it Haunted? Cursed?

Some people believe in the supernatural. Some people think it's a bunch of horse poo. Some people really don't give a shit.....until everything starts happening and your world turns crazy.

And then you begin to wonder...

In the last six weeks we've been here, each day since we've moved into the house, something new has gone wrong. Not much has gone right. We had no water for a month, which meant no showers, laundry, dishes, etc.. The mice died, and they were doing so well. Our basement flooded and the carpet, walls & stuff got ruined. The hot water heater died. Hubby's new $750 computer died (only had a 3mo warranty).  We had an invasion of flies in the house (hundreds of them). Hubby rolled the car (story later on that). The truck died. The breakers trip. Pipes & valves keep breaking. Hubby got electrocuted (minimal),  The lawn mower broke. The vacuum died. Third car's broken (but usable).

Need I go on?

And just to top off all that crap, there's been alot of things happen that are just, "Are you kidding me?" We've had crazy rain (that's not normal here) that's scared the shit out of us driving on the roads. We're mere inches away from not being able to get broadband internet. Our neighbors can. We can't get cell service, unless you walk 300' to the road. We get brown-outs every day. Cant get to a store in under an hour, even to buy milk. Dogs keep escaping & gone for hours. The local school closed when we moved here, and now I have to shuffle the boy an hour away.

....Just little things. But they grate on you. They add up. They give you a sense of foreboding. I wake up every morning thinking, "What will happen today?"

None of these things are detrimental. I mean, we're happy there has been no serious injuries, or deaths, or explosions. No one's maimed, or has lost an eye....yet. Knock on wood. It could be alot worse. But when so many things happen just after you move into a new home....it gets you thinking. When you're in the bathroom and the lights flicker, and you swear you hear breathing, but no one's home, it makes your skin crawl. The house being haunted or cursed has crossed my mind...on many occasion. Mostly as a joke. Mostly. Is the house just bad luck? Or did we piss off the universe or something?

I know the house isn't haunted or cursed. Reality is, it's just life. Many of these things have been 'fixed', or will be fixed. Some items had/have to be replaced. Some, are just what they are.  But, damn!  Enough already.

At least I'm getting some good stories out of this, eh?!

Well, well, well. Well water...

Water. When you live in the city, you take it for granted. You have an account, you pay your bills, you have clean water. Sure, it sometimes may have a chlorine smell/taste to it, but it's safe. You may decide to drink bottled water cuz tap water just seems 'gross'. But.....there's water. Clean, usable water. I never knew how much I took municipal water for granted. If I wanted to take a shower, wash dishes, do laundry, or give my animals a drink, it was there. Now, being an owner of a well? Wow, it puts the whole water issue into perspective.

When we were going through the whole house purchasing 'thing', inspections were made. There were plumbing issues. It seems they didn't winterize the property until March, even though it had been on the market since October. January had been one of the coldest months out here, so I've heard. So, there was a split in a pipe between the well & the 1st shut-off valve in the basement wall. The 2nd shut-off valve, in the house, had also broken. Both due to freezing. Well, because of these two plumbing breaks, the well couldn't be tested. The company fixed those two breaks before we closed (thank goodness because it's $350 we didn't have to spend), but it was 2 days before closing, and there was no time left to have the well inspected. We decided we'd do the water testing ourselves, and hope for the best with the ground pipes. The inspector had done an air pressure test, and since it kept the psi, we were relatively sure there were no other pipe breaks.

Pressure tank & filters
& New hot water heater

When we moved in, there was water all over the laundry room. The laundry room not only houses the hot water heater, washer & dryer, it also is where well pump relay and pressure tank live. Do those things sound foreign to you? Well, I sure as hell didn't know what they were at the time! Anyway, it looked as though it might have been there from the plumbing 'fix', and was slowly evaporating. We put a fan on it, opened the window, and decided to give it a day or two.

Well casing head

Now, since the well water hadn't been tested, and there was a good chance it could have anything from lead, to pesticides, bacteria, or nitrates in it. I didn't let anyone use the water for consumption until the tests were complete. We used bottle water for us & the animals, and for brushing our teeth.  I'm paranoid like that. ;-) Good thing, too. On the day after that horrible storm, our third day here, the mice babies that were thriving were getting very sick. I tested the water, and all seemed OK (nitrates, nitrites, lead, mercury, pesticides, chlorine, PH, etc). However, the bacteria test takes 48 hrs and wasn't done yet, and that's what we were thinking were making the mice sick. We were feeding them milk, but it didn't occur to us that washing the syringe with tap water would have been a problem. Live & learn.

The baby mice - healthy

On our fourth day, the bacteria test water turned blue. Positive for coliform. The water was iridescent under a black light. Positive with e. coli. Well, shit! Time to research our options. But of course, we didn't have internet. It was gonna have to wait. Ugh. Meanwhile, the baby mice started to die.

During the time of the water testing, we still had plumbing issues. The basement floor in the laundry room was mostly dry, but you could see it had some fresh too, which meant a leak somewhere. We didn't have alot of water pressure. It wasn't bad, but the shower wasn't strong enough to rinse my three feet of hair. Also, our hot water disappeared  Alot of stuff at once. We took it one at a time.

Water leak. After mopping, wrapping, and checking, I found that one of the water filters were leaking along the gasket. There are three filters that remove sediment & chemicals from the water. This is a good thing, especially since the water is orangy. They run parallel, not in series, which to this date, we don't understand. So, we removed the housings, put in new filters in two of them (the third was a different type and we didn't have a tool for it). We turned the one that was leaking off. Okee. So we thought....

Bacteria test kits

Water heater. I turned the house breaker off, and reset the inner breaker of the hot water heater. Hmmm...why did it trip? I turned the house breaker back on, and we had hot water again.  OK. However, the next day, I had to do the same thing again, and the next, and the next.... Hmmm.

Meanwhile we lost almost all water pressure. It was a trickle. We were going insane trying to figure it out. We knew nothing about well pumps and pressure tanks. Oi! We lived with it, what could we do? We were going to Greeley that weekend to work on the old house. We kept the internet there for a while, so I researched & researched. I learned alot about pumps, wells, and pressure tanks. I learned how to 'hopefully' get rid of bacteria, and what the cause could be. I learned how to adjust the water pressure on the pump relay (that didn't fix our problem), I learned how to test the pressure tank to see if it was broken (nope, it was fine). Troubleshooting came up with we must have a clog in our pipe somewhere. There is so much sediment, it's understandable. I mean, when I did the chlorine flushes, I had to run the water alot, and it was VERY orange at times. Yuk. Sometimes, it was grey. Ugh. And yes, that's with all three new filters in (we finally got the third changed, thinking it might be a clogged filter giving us no pressure - it wasn't). We were at a loss. Couldn't figure the damn thing out.

When we had gotten back from Greeley, after going to the store to get pool (chlorine) tabs, we set to work flushing the well to get rid of the bacteria. Unfortunately without water pressure in the house, it wasn't gonna work, as there was no way to 'flush' it out. Doh! Finally though, after 4 weeks, three chlorine flushes, and two more bacteria tests, our water is coliform & e. coli free (for now).

Old hot water heater

We also didn't have hot water again when we returned from the weekend. This time after resetting it, when I flipped the breaker, I went down to the laundry room and I heard a "ZZzzzttttt". Well that didn't sound good. I looked, and there was water leaking out of the control panels on the hot water heater. DEFINITELY not good. So, it seemed like the hot water heater had a leak inside it, and was shorting it out. Problem solved, but that means we needed a new hot water heater. Crap! We turned the hot water heater off, tried to shut the water valve to the hot water heater off to remove the thing, and it wouldn't budge. After alot of WD-40, a screwdriver & a wrench, we got the spigot valve to turn off....only to notice it leaks because it's so corroded. One more thing to replace. Anywho, after another week, $350, and alot of swearing, we got a brand new 55 gal hot water heater installed. Yay, hot water!

...but still no pressure. One day I went down to the laundry room & stared. We'd been without water for over 3 weeks.  We needed to wash dishes, do laundry, take a shower! So I stared. Twenty minutes later, with some deductive reasoning and I figured it out. Looking at the lines, I was trying to figure out where the clog must be. It had to be before the hot water heater becasue it took two days to finally fill up (drip, drip, drip into the tank). It had to be after the shut-off, cuz I could hear the pressure in the line when I shut it off & turned it on. What was between the two? Another broken valve and the......filters!  The filter line.  So, I turned off the filter that we turned on.  No water in the faucet. I turned it back on, a trickle. I turned on the filter that was leaking. BINGO - we had water. The filters ran in parallel. The filter that was leaking had a clear pipe. The filter line that didn't was clogged, ergo little pressure. I got soaked, but I took apart the housings, cleaned the o-rings & put 'em back together. No leak. Damn. The filters were nasty already, and they are 3 month filters....it had been only 3 weeks, but I changed them while I had them apart anyway.

The one filter line is still clogged, and the piping that runs to the downstairs bathroom is clogged somewhere too. We have plans to re-run those lines when we fix the broken hot water heater shut-off valve and the washer & dryer spigots that also leak...Labor Day weekend is plumbing weekend for us.

OMG, it was four weeks without water. It was hell. We learned how to survive, tho. We boought water for drinking. We collected rain water for the animals to drink. Hubby filled up water jugs at work for water to cook with & brush our teeth with. Hubby got to take showers at work. Me and the kids took showers every weekend when we went up to the old house. Our clothes & dishes were stacking up, but we did it. Thankfully we were able to fix it without having to call in a $500 plumber! We still have alot of issues, like alot sediment still in our water, but, they seem trivial to having no water at all! 

The reason it's called Deer Tales...

Every day since we moved here, we've seen deer in our yard. EVERY day. We have 6.2 acres, and well, I'm sure there are deer in the back lot quite a bit. But I'm talking close to the house. Either in the back yard just beyond the deck, or in the front by the driveway. I like to sit in the living room, sipping my coffee, watching the deer.

There are of course, also deer across the road in the neighbor's property, and also ones we see while driving. I know, I know....everyone wants to tell me how they look sweet, but I'll hate them when I have a garden. Or how they'll eat your favorite landscaping plants. Yes, I know. But we like the deer. We like the nature. The gardens on the lot have fencing to keep out the deer. The trees have chicken wire to not be eaten. If there are plants I decide to landscape with that the deer are bothering, I'll spray them with anti-deer stuff. *shrug* I'll deal with it. But for now, we like the deer.

Every day, either early morning, or early evening the deer come around. There are a couple families. Usually a lone doe or buck are chomping away at the grass (who wouldn't like that?!), but sometimes a family of four with a white spotted fawn nibbles its way near the swing. They seem to be quite OK with humans.

My daughter and I were out in the front yard doing something, and I hadn't realized that three deer were eating some grass on the other side of the driveway. They kept their eyes on us, but weren't intimidated. Now the dogs....that's another issue. The dogs are always barking at them, and they run away. I hate that. :-(

Besides deer we've seen a fox mosey on through the yard. I'm not keen on the fox as my cat loves to go lay in the sunshine, and sleep under the stars. The fox is also a predator to my chickens and bunny, which thankfully are locking in a coop/run at the moment. But so far, we haven't been bothered by him, and I've only seen him once. We had some sort of animal "bark" for an hour or so the other night. We didn't get a good look at it, though my guess is it was a fox calling her young.  But I'm no expert.

We enjoy the deer. My daughter likes to hike in the back looking for deer tracks. No, I haven't fed them. I know better.  But I can't say I'm not tempted. I'm just an animal lover at heart. :)

I guess they don't call it Deer Trail for nuthin!

Day Two...and I Wanted to Give Up.

Day two. Tuesday, July 12th. We got up early to return the truck. On our agenda for the day was also driving up to Greeley to pick up the gold car, the girl, who was staying at her grandparents while we moved, the chickens, and to just come "home" to relax. You'd think that would be simple, right?

The truck was due at 11am. So not knowing the new "neighborhood", we used the GPS to get us to Aurora. It was supposedly 50 miles give or take. We left at 9:30. Plenty of time. Ha! The GPS has this 'thing' where it wants to take you out of your way. In this case, by more than 40 miles. On dirt roads where at times 15 is the max (or your going in the ditch), this can be time consuming. We told the GPS no tolls.  Guess what.  It took us on a toll road, and by the time we realized it was coming up, there was no turn around. Colorado has toll roads where you don't get a choice to pay in cash. It goes by your license plate picture. Ummm...we had two vehicles and one was a rental truck. We still haven't gotten the "bill" from Penske about that toll that I'm sure they'll jack up to $20 or more in processing fees. Anywho, we finally got to the city and had 20 minutes to get the truck delivered, but we had to fill the tank up first. No biggie, find a gas station. There's one! We pull in.  Diesel is out of order. OK, there's sure to be more stations on the way to the drop off. Another one! Woops, they don't sell diesel. Another....another....another. By the 5th gas station we were freakin cuz we didn't want to have to spend $100 on a late truck. Seven minutes 'till 11, we finally found a gas station that sold diesel.  $125 later (ugh), we pulled out & had to back track a couple blocks to drop off the truck. 11am on the nose we ran (literally ran) to the door. We got the bill settled, and all was OK, but damn were we stressing. Big time!

Time to go up to Greeley to pick up the girl, the chickens and the gold car. Stress over. Grab some take out and try to relax. The girl was staying at the grandparents while we moved. It was for the best. THANK YOU Len & Leanne for keeping her during the move. An hour mission at the house turned into four, of course. I had to stop at the store for some things, since there are no stores close to the new house. Loading the chickens didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped (the dog crates didn't fit in the back seats) so we ended up putting them in boxes. LOL So, by late afternoon, we were off. In less than two hours we'd be home sweet home.

It was a full double rainbow. The pic doesn't do it justice.

We were getting a little nervous because of the rain. But, we figured if it was raining when we got to the city of Bennett (last city with a major grocery store and a restaurant before home), we'd just wait it out. We didn't want a repeat, and end up driving on the dirt roads in the rain. No way. When we got to Bennett it was blue skies, and clear to the south east. Cool. Almost home!

Just as we crossed out of Byers (one of the towns outside the area we live) onto the dirt road, BAM!  Rain.  OK, it wasn't too bad. We did this yesterday. We thought we were good enough to drive the dirt roads in the rain. Wrong!  About 5-10 miles in, it hit.  The rain became unrelenting. The roads were slippery. We couldn't see but 100' ahead of us. The roads were flooding. What were we supposed to do? When you're on the highway or city streets and it gets too much for you to handle, you pull off onto the shoulder, or into the nearest parkinglot and wait it out. Not out here. There was nowhere to pull off. On both sides of the road is a 2-3' ditch (for water run-off), so that was out of the question. Just stop? I mean, there's no one on the roads. Nope, you'd sink. So we just kept at it. Slowly. Oh shit, what was that ahead? The road had a flow of water across it. Now, I KNOW you are not supposed to drive across it. Never drive over running water going across the road. But we didn't have a choice.

We were stopped, trying to decide what to do, and we knew if we didn't go soon, the tires would be packed with mud. So, we crossed it, at an angle. We were OK. We ended up passing two more of these road floods on our way home that evening. (Later, when hubby had talked to the fire dept. about it, they told us we made the right choice. If we would have stayed there, the car would have either sunk to 1/2 the tire or slid off the road). The rain got worse. It started to hail. I couldn't see beyond my hood. We passed a car in the ditch...but we couldn't stop. We really wanted to stop to make sure they were OK, but we couldn't, we'd be stuck too.

So we kept going. My daughter was in the car ahead of me with the hubby. She was so scared she was crying. Hubby had to 'yell' over the sound of the rain, to tell her, "It'll be alright", and calm her down. I, in the car behind them was scared shitless. The car was fishtailing, sliding, and the defogger wasn't working. I had to have the window down to help with the fogging window. I was getting pelted with cherry tomato size hail. I had to keep wiping the windshield with one hand while I had a death-grip on the wheel with the other. I couldn't see hubby in front of me. I couldn't see the sides of the road. The roads twist & turn, and I didn't know if I was gonna be able to follow it through this. Thankfully in this direction (unlike coming north from Kiowa) the hills aren't very steep. We could keep traction enough not to slide backwards.  I was panicked, but I kept at it. I wanted to pull off, but I couldn't. I didn't cry....surprisingly. The hail subsided, the rain let up a little and I could see about a car length or two ahead of me. Another two miles and we'd be home. Getting home alive and have a couple beers sounded really good right about now. OMG - is that the blue roof I see? Woot! We made it. We're alive.
Deep breath...

We walked up to the door. My step son Jonathan, and my son had stayed at the house while we were gone all day. Jonathan comes up, and says, "We have a little problem".  I swear I was about to collapse as it was. A problem? I couldn't handle much more. So, we followed him into the basement. The basement which had our couches, wood furniture, TV, consoles and other electronics, our boxes of books, and other stuff. The basement was going to be our 'Family Room' and office. Was.

We got down there, and there was water pouring from the windows. It was coming in from the wall. Three quarters of the basement was flooded with over an inch of water, on top of what was soaked into the carpet & foam padding. Assessing the problem, I could see water pouring in from the casement windows, so I went outside and started baling water. But it was too much. The gutters were packed with pine needles, and water was washing down from the roof, against the house.

After the carpet had been removed.

The earth had eroded away, and there was no slope to keep the rain from pooling against the house. It was flooding through the sides of the casement. I went inside and emptied plastic containers & took them outside to try to catch some of the water off the roof. We didn't have a ladder, so we couldn't empty the gutters right then. We did what we could, but it was a lost cause. The rain was coming down in sheets. It had started to hail again. Going downstairs, we tried to catch the water coming in through the windows.

Where the dirt was washing in.

We tried to mop up the water as it flooded, but it was coming in from behind the wall, between the wood panels, and the cement wall. Sand was flooding in as well. To this day we still haven't taken off the panels for fear of seeing that the basement foundation wall has a crack in it (most logical explanation). We moved all our stuff to the south end of the basement where there were no windows. The door on that side (walk-out basement) wasn't leaking. Whew.

The water-logged carpet, removed.

The carpet on the North, east & west sides of the basement were ruined. Two days later when I finally removed the carpet & padding, it was still soaked. The wood walls, drywall, tack strips, and carpeting all need to be replaced...but that will have to wait.

After giving up with the basement, I went upstairs to find that the sliding glass door to the workout room was leaking in. This is where the boys dumped all the misc. boxes & stuff from the truck. It was packed, wall to wall with things. That's when I broke down & cried. I just couldn't take anymore. I moved boxes out of the way of the water, but I was beat. I was depressed. I was done. I wanted to leave. I hated this house. I couldn't believe such bad luck. What in the world did I do to deserve all this shit coming down on me? When the rain finally stopped, I was too deflated to do anything. I was even too punked out to update facebook on the horrors of the day. Now that's bad!

Since this, we have heard from numerous people that this was a freak rainstorm. "Never in eight years have I seen such..." Other people had some minor casement window flooding. Some debris flooded into their land, etc. Although it's good to know this kind of thing was mostly preventable had the gutters not been packed, and that this was not a usual occurrence, but damn!  On our first whole day here. It just set a real bad tone for the place, ya know. If it had been six months, or a year, it wouldn't have been so traumatic.

(Video was taken on the 12th, but uploaded to facebook -hence the date, on the 16th when I could get data signal)


Just breathe...

Moving Day(s)

Moving.  Have you ever moved? Of course you have. 99% of people have moved at least once in their adult life, haven't they? Some of us have moved tens of times throughout their lives. This move though, seemed tougher than any other....even the ones out of state! 

On July 9th, 10th & 11th we loaded this bad boy up......twice.

Yup. We have so much crap that we needed a 26 footer, and had to make 2 trips. This is after I had the donation truck come to the house FOUR times as I packed. Wow. When you live in a house (not a rental), and you have lots of storage space, you seem to accumulate stuff. Lots of stuff!

We had a few great helpers, Alex Beale, my step-son, Jonathan (who was here on vacation), and our boy Sebastian. Without them, I don't know how we would have gotten all that stuff to the new place. Thank you SO MUCH guys for all your help!

After loading the first load, the boys took the truck down to the new house. It's about a 100 mile trip (one way). They stayed there the night guzzling beer and playing on computers after a long hard day. Thank goodness they had electricity, huh?! On Saturday they unloaded and came back for load number two. Needless to say everyone was too beat to unload, so we stayed the night in Greeley and took the truck, the kids, and ALL the animals except the chickens down to the new house on Sunday.

I had three dogs, a giant bunny, a hamster and a cat all the the car with me. Of course the cat escaped his carrier and insisted on laying in my lap the whole trip. Fun. It was OK until he decided he wanted to be at my feet. Ummm....no.  

Now, if I haven't explained, there are 30 miles of dirt roads on the way to the house. Let me rephrase that. Thirty miles of winding, hilly, dirt roads. No way around it. Dirt. Dry, rocky, clay dirt. Ever drive on this stuff? Ever drive on this stuff in the rain? Ooooh boy. I've never really driven on dirt roads except for a little path here or there, so this was really new to me. Add in the fact that it poured on the way there. Hubby had the boys in the truck. The truck fared a little better than me in the Saturn on those wet, slippery roads because of the traction. OK, I'll admit it, I was a little nervous. Honestly though, looking back, I think I was too naive to be scared. I have since learned what can happen on these roads, and I now respect them.

Moving makes a mess!

After a long, wet, two hour drive, we got to the house.  Errr....home. We unloaded and were done. Whew!  Ahhhh.....after all that, all I wanted was pizza, a Mike's, and a long shower.  Ummm....well, since we're nowhere near a pizza place...strike that. Ah, forget it. We just grabbed something quick out of the freezer and crashed!

That was day one at the new house.

It was a long way, baby

July. That's when we started wondering if this was the right thing to do. Things kept going wrong. We felt like it wasn't meant to be after just two weeks. It was horrible. But then again, I guess the bad luck didn't start with moving to this house. It had been going on for months. This was the fourth house we went for. The first we saw & loved was already under contract by the time we asked. It was 40 acres and....oh, nevermind. The second house we fell for had been a HUD home. It needed alot of love, but then again, it was only 50k. I love projects, so we thought it would be perfect. We could lower our mortgage payment, pay off bills, etc. That was March 21st. After over 2 months of HELL and almost a thousand dollars later, the inspector informed us (and the seller bank) that the house didn't have pipes or electric to the well, meaning it wasn't 'move-in ready', which meant it went from a financing house to cash only. We were heartbroken, stressed, and exhausted from the experience. However, we were packed, we disliked the city & neighborhood we lived in, so we started all over again. We went and looked at many houses. Not an easy feat since the area we were looking in was 3 hours south of where we currently lived. But we kept up hopes, and went every weekend. We found one we really, really liked in Deer Trail. Log cabin look, but modern. Huge.  But it needed too much $$ to make it habitable (the previous owners started work & didn't finish). So, that was out. Poo.  We then fell in love with a place in Yoder. I still can't say that name without giggling. Anyway, it was awesome.  An old house built in the early 1900's AND a  nice manufactured house. Both big enough & ready to move-in.  It had a detached partially built house the size of an efficiency apartment on the 40 acre property. It had 2 single garages, and one HUGE garage/barn, plus 3 more out buildings. What's not to love? We put out offer in.  Started the paperwork rolling.  A week later, someone came along & offered the lady cash for it.  Needless to say we lost the property.  Damnit! The next house was in Rush. Another with 40 acres.  Many outbuildings including 2 tiny houses from the late 1800's. We didn't get very far on this one.  Someone put a bid in (cash again) on the same day we did.  Lost that one. By now we were do deflated. Contemplating giving up. I mean, what bad luck!  It was June. We's been at this since March. But, as I was searching online, I came across a property in Deer Trail which wasn't listed on the main sites. Almost 3000 sq. ft, a warehouse-like garage, chicken coops and on 6 acres in the woods.  Now mind you, if you are east of the mountains here in Colorado, there is plains.  Miles & miles of......brown, treeless, blah.  However, this place was in a little cropping of wooded area in mid-east earea of the state.  So, hubby said, "OK, I'll stop by on the way home from work" (It was actually a 3hr detour).  He fell in love.  There were bids already in.  I couldn't get down there to see it 'til the upcoming weekend. He took pictures, came home & showed me. The next day (site unseen from me), he put a bid in. They came back with an opportunity to re-bid as another bid was going to be accepted. For fear of losing it, we bid everything we could (and some we couldn't) to get this property. Scary. We couldn't afford this house with still owning the Greeley house.  There would be no money left for repairs. But, we did it. The bid was accepted, and the ball started rolling.  It wasn't smooth. Lots of issues came up. Plumbing. Well. Septic. *sigh* But we went forth. It was a very stressful purchase. Nothing went right. More money & more money was needed from us. Even four hours before closing we had to shit out 4k extra dollars we didn't have.  PITA! Finally we closed on June 31st. We became owners of the house in Deer Trail.  Should we have really stuck it out?  Was someone trying to tell us something? I don't know, but it is what it is, and the days that followed really had us ready to move right back into the house we STILL own in Greeley. But we didn't. We've worked hard, we've (unfortunately) gone in more credit debt, but we're making this house a home. Through the last month we've shed tears, screamed in anger, and had the urge to give up. But we didn't. We still love it. Yep. Hard to believe, but we do.

This........is home.

A New Home...A New Adventure

On July 11, 2011 our family set off on a journey unknown.  We had packed up all our stuff, made two truck runs, and left city life. We purchased a 33 year old home in the rural area known as the Chaparral Subdivision.  What does that mean?  Well, according to the post office, our zip code is in the town of Deer Trail.  Though the actual town is 30 minutes away.  According to our taxes, we pay to the Agate district.  That town is also 30 minutes away (opposite direction). According to county records, we live in the county of Elbert.  OK, so that might not seem strange, except for the fact that both Deer Trail & Agate are in Arapahoe county.  So, we sort of belong nowhere, but to everyone.  We live in the rural of rurals. Dirt roads in every direction. The nearest city is over an hour away. Why did we do it? I'll explain that later.

So are we getting accustomed to rural life?  Let's just say it's been an adventure.  And that's what this blog is about.  Our adventures in Deer Trail.  Enjoy!