Space, the finest frontier
Robyn and I spent the morning at the new house, making long lists of things we want to do to it. Over the next weeks as we get ready to close, we’ll be prioritizing our lists so we can hit the ground running as soon as we own the property. This trip, we brought the BDUs and hiking boots, and covered the entire property.
It’s markedly different from our postage-stamp suburb yard.
Here’s the front yard of our current house. The WHOLE front yard.
Here’s PART of the new front yard.
That property marker is about 10 feet from the other house there.
For reference, see that big pin oak tree? Every leaf is on our side of the property line.
Here’s a picture taken from the very back of our current property.
This picture was taken about 20 feet from the back of the new property.
I labelled the house so you could see it. The shed, while currently on what will be our
property, belongs to the current owner’s dad. He’s offered to sell it, but I don’t know if
we’ll be buying. I’m not sure what we’d use it for.
This is one of two crappy Bradford Pear trees we have now.
They’re about 25 feet tall, and so far we’ve been lucky that neither has broken.
This is a typical tree from the new house. It’s a closeup of the pin oak
from above. Note the swing, waiting for me to play on. The owner’s dad reckons
this tree is about 150 years old, based on its size.
More of the same tree. Sorry, but it won’t all fit into the picture.
We’ll need to get the parts over the house trimmed back when we take ownership.
More typical trees. There’s a huge magnolia in the front, another pin oak to the right,
and I think the leftmost is a regular oak tree.
Those, my friends, are some motherfucking TREES.
Still more trees, along the property line separating our place from the church next door.
Here’s one of the back corner property line markers.
And this is what it looks like from that property marker.
You can see the house near the middle of the picture.
Note, as always, the size of the trees. I suspect my obsession with the trees comes from
my love of the woods. Or something like that.
Looking at the house from behind the (owner’s father’s) garden, which is
on what will be our property.
|
|
This is just one of the several pecan trees the property has.
Another view of the house from just beyond the pond.
Note how Robyn is like one of the cats, in that she keeps showing up in pictures.
That’s an already-built chicken coop behind her, waiting for some good layers.
The pond, which is far too small and far too shallow. You can see just what the current dry summer
has done to it. Those are dead catfish floating there (yes, it smells). Note how small they are.
You need a big deep pond for nice-sized eatin’ fish, like the ones I caught back in May.
We’re debating whether to make this pond bigger, or fill it in and dig a big one further from the house.
Inside the chicken coop, which the current owners have kindly left filled with fertilizer for the garden.
This is what we’ll see when we sit on the porch in the afternoon, iced tea in hand.
The house faces south, which makes it perfect for afternoon porch-sittin’ after a hard day on the tractor.
It’s a nice big porch, extending the width of the house.
This is a view across the back pasture, looking from one side to the other.
Finally, remember that mouse skeleton I mentioned yesterday, from the crawlspace?
Here ’tis.
It’s going to be a lot tougher than the suburbs, but all that space will be worth it, I think.
I hope.
I pray.
Last Saturday (the day we found the house) and today, I stopped at the little convenience store up on the corner for a drink. Both times, the same three old men were sitting up front and shooting the shit, talking this and that about the weather, the cotton, and whatnot. In the store, you can purchase all manner of locally grown produce. Other than the occasional apple or banana at the front counter, I’ve never in my life seen bins of produce in a convenience store.
Small towns are awfully nifty.
Fred, those are the huge Pin oaks. You have some really beautiful trees! You’ll have a colorful fall.
I see the cats have definitely settled in. I see a big garden in your future . . .
Fred, it’s great to see you posting in this most prolific manner! Obviously, you’re not too excited about this new adventure. I would imagine you’re thinking of purchasing a good old push mower, right? Heh.
Thanks for including “all of us” on the journey!
Can ya imagine that big porch screened in?? Lots and lots of hammocks swinging under the trees? Don’t forget to put one on the soon to be screened in porch. Ya also could fence in yer land, put out some goats for mowin’ and cheesin’………I am sooo happy for you guys!And jealous too
The swing looks fantastic. Are you going to get chickens? Will “dad” be letting his garden go, or will you be allowing him to come back and tend to it through the season?
How can the shed be on your property, but not yours?
Anyway— incredible- I am so jealous!
Kinzie: Chickens are high on the list, I think. Until one attacks Robyn, she says. The garden is getting bush-hogged along with everything else.
Connie: Because it doesn’t belong to the owner, and he’s going to move it before closing.
Beautiful! I wondered what we’d do with the shed at our house too, until I realized I needed a place to store all my yard tools. Just a thought.
Like Karen said, good to see you posting again so much, always enjoy it. You know its funny, the wife and myself just last month were out looking at places to build and kinda get away from people. I have a question though Fred about the house. I few entry’s back I saw all the pictures of the new house. I noticed that the inside of the house did not have drywall. I’ve never seen wall board layed like that and I assume its original. Will you drywall over all that original, take it down and replace with drywall or just leave it and repaint it? Just curious because I have not seen walls like that before.
Dave -
Many of the original walls are tongue-and-groove knotted pine (as the inspector said, “Somebody had some money.”). It would be heresy to drywall over that kind of character. Matter of fact, we’re going to remove some of the drywall the sellers put up, to see how the wood behind it looks and if there’s damage that can be fixed.
In a perfect world, I’d strip the wood and stain it, but who am I kidding? I lack the patience to try and strip off 70+ years of paint, so the plan is to do some smoothing, putty in the big knotholes and cracks, and paint it with a better paint.
Other walls are beadboard, probably from the 50’s when the bathrooms were installed. Further, I’m pretty sure some of the beadbord is even newer (like from Lowe’s), installed within the last few years. You can always tell the new stuff because it’s so thin. Those walls, while they’ll probably stay for now, may very well end up drywalled down the road.
Loved all the pictures. I’m so happy for you both. You’ll love country living. Believe me you can never have to many sheds. You’ll soon notice the STUFF you’ll accumulate for the yard. Like a yard swing for two, a hammock yard ornaments,etc these things will all need storing.
I noticed in one of your pictures what looks like a ceiling fan on your front porch. Is that what it is? If so how ingenious…ha.ha
Hey, that was a ceiling fan. I should have read the whole entry before posting my question. I went back and finished reading your entry and lo and behold another picture of your porch and sure enough…it’s a fan
Cool House….and you will love love love living in the country.
Keep the shed! You will find plenty of uses for it, trust me. Nice property - I am really looking forward to your accounts of all the adventures you will have fixing it up.
Ah, I am so jealous. I’m sick of the burbs! Thanks for the pics!
Great, didnt want to voice my opinion too loud but am certainly glad the walls are staying up, the tounge and groove stuff that is. Character and it certainly belongs in a house thats that age. I see a home improvement web page coming up for the anders0ns…waaa hooooo
You have a magnolia tree!!! GAAAHHH you are so lucky!!! I love magnolia trees–they smell so beautiful and have the prettiest blooms.
Also, and forgive me if this has been answered before, but I was just wondering if either you or Robyn had “country life” experience.
I grew up on a small farm in the country backwoods–not far from where you’re moving to, actually–and it’s surprising how vastly different even little things are from city life to country life. (My parents finally got tired of ‘farm life’ and moved to the city last year–my dad is so excited to now have only 0.25 acres of yard to maintain, although he was quite sad to sell his beloved John Deere tractor.)
It’s definitely a personal preference, like any other lifestyle choice. I would NEVER move back to the country, but I know quite a few people who moved from the city and now wouldn’t leave the country for ANYTHING. Mainly I think it depends on how much work you’re willing to put into your living space on a daily basis. I’m far too lazy now to keep up with acreage or gardens or farm animals, hehehe.
Also, were you planning on having horses? That’s the one thing I miss dearly about country life. I learned to ride before I could walk, and I used to basically live on the back of a horse. And horseback riding is awesome exercise–burns about 500 calories an hour.
Whitters:
Funny you should mention the magnolia tree. I hate them; Robyn loves them. Mostly I hate them because of the hand grenades they drop that turn into deadly projectiles when you run a lawn mower over them. I wanted to have the tree removed, but it looks like Robyn won this round.
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I spent plenty of time on one at my grandparents’ house near Cullman. We think (and here’s where we may be wrong) that after the first year or so, once we get things whipped into the shape we want, there won’t be that much work involved in maintaining the land. Regular mowing, and we’re actually talking about putting an electric fence around the back 3 and sticking some goats out there to do it for us.
Having no encroaching neighbors will make it all worth it, we think.
Definitely no horses. We’re not horse folk. Goats, maybe, eventually, and we’ve jokingly discussed a cow, but only jokingly.
I may have missed it, but I’m wondering about a septic system. Also, I wondered if you have central a/c. I love the place. It seems so right for you and Bessie, and Spud.
Reading about your house has made me wonder if you’ve ever read any good books or articles online about buying a house? You seem to be a thorough researcher and my fiance and I are getting ready to start researching the whole house-buying process. Neither of us have ever bought a house before and I am looking for wisdom from anywhere I can get it! The new house looks just wonderful- I hope you will love living there!
Hi Fred, I live on a 100+ acres in what is considered a midwest state and I LOVE IT!!!
We have 45 head of cattle and they keep the
fields picked down. All you need is a cow or two, electric fence, some hay in the winter and your all set.
Lisa: I haven’t read any books or articles, but I’ll give you what I think is the single most important piece of advice I can: find a good realtor. Plenty of people will disagree with that, because realtors want a piece of the pie, but with a good one (ours is an award-winner who’s sold over 100 homes just in our subdivision. Even better, he lives right around the corner.) A good realtor will make the buying process a lot less painful, because he’ll know exactly what needs to happen in what order when you find the house you love. Our realtor is helping us with this house (even though it was a for sale by owner) for 1% of the cost of the new house, plus the understanding that he’ll sell our current house for a 1% (of the house cost) lower commission than usual. Negotiating can be your friend. The lower commission on our current house later means we’ll actually save money because it’ll sell for considerably more than the new one, so the 1% payment up front for the new house is a good deal.
Pay attention to the home inspector once you get to that part. They’re veritable founts of information, and will answer anything you ask about repairs, damage, construction, and even landscaping. For example, one of those giant oak trees behind the garage has a carpenter ant infestation and will need to be cut down. I never would’ve known that, but the home inspector caught it right away. I can’t repeat enough: pay attention to them and ask questions.
Depending on your personality and comfort around new people, you might want to talk to the owners of whatever house you find. They can tell you about the house, the neighborhood, the city, and so on. Understand that there’s always the possibility that they’ll tell you anything to sell the house, but the fact that you’re looking them in the eye will make it harder. I think people are generally honest. Talking to the current owners this time (something like that would’ve intimidated us a few years ago, but our love of the house sight unseen overcame that pretty quickly) was also a plus for us, because one of the things that put them over the top on accepting our offer was our excitement about the house. The other offer they had was from someone who didn’t particularly seem to care about the house, just the price and how quickly they could get the place. Our offer was just a little more, and we worked out a closing advantageous to both of us.
Damn, that shoulda been an entry, it was so long. I’ll answer whatever I can, but bear in mind: I’m no expert. I just find the experts and ask them.
======================================
Brendy: We’ve talked about a cow, but right now we’re leaning toward goats. Cause, well, they’re goats.
Thanks for the house buying info- all that is helpful. I’m taking a class next month about how to buy a house, but it’s always good to hear about what other people experienced- everyone’s who’s been there & done that always has good advice!
Oh Fred… a goat. A goat would so totally fit you guys! I have a horse and I wanted a companion for her so I got her a pygmy goat. He is the love of my life! I can’t believe how much personality is packed into that little body! Yes, you are goat people as well as cat people!
In the country they say that Baaa Baaaa Baaaa means no!!! LMAO, or is that a sheep referance, LMAO!!!
You are living my dream!!! Way to go FRED!!! Can’t wait to see more of the house.
Congrats to yall!!
One big thing to know when you start looking to buy a house is to check your credit and fix what you can before you ever go to inquire about a mortgage. I’m a Loan Officer and I’m telling you - most people have something on their credit that is wrong - many times it affects your score. Rates are on the decrease right now, but they are higher than a year ago. Make sure you really know how much you can afford - and like Fred says - get a good realtor!
But most importantly, can you get DSL out there!?
After, “Can you tell me a little about the house?”, the second question to the seller was “Is there broadband internet access?”
And yes, there is. That would have been a dealbreaker, no matter what the love of the house.
Goats? Hmmm … we rented two goats a few years ago - to clear our property of brush, mostly blackberries and other pesky weeds. The goats are very efficient, and they will eat just about any vegetation you want them to. But … we had a billy and a doe, and the billy stunk to high heaven. There’s a reason they use the term “old goat” to describe a bad odor. And mean, too. He was very aggressive, and we couldn’t let the kids go out onto the property the entire time he was “working” for us. I wonder if you could just get a few does to do the job for you. The one we had was very sweet, and she didn’t smell bad.
Your new house and property look wonderful. I am totally looking forward to reading all about your move to the country!
I absolutely LOVE it! Wish I were moving in too!