New
Beginnings
As we have gone through these last few years, we have had many
changes unfold. One I quit my para-pro. position at the school in November
of 2019 just before the pandemic really hit. Both my husband and I were some of
the first to get sick and we may not have gotten hit hard, but we were both
sick for a month and more for me. My hubby had a heart attack and had 4
stints put in. I thought for sure things couldn’t get worse. But then my
husband lost his dad shortly thereafter. I was struggling to keep up with all
the animals and not doing a great job of it because my lungs were shot. We had
pigs, chickens, guineas, goats, and ducks that needed to be fed.
We were preparing to get things together and were going to start
back fixing up the house on the hill. But with his dad's death we were blessed
to change that in so many ways. We started looking for a new place to move. The
house on the hill just was not worth fighting for, with the mold and everything else
that was going on. We couldn't do anything right off hand as so many things had
to fall into place. Patiently waiting we kept up with all the farm duties. I
lost my goats to predators, and we were trying to decide whether to keep the
pigs. We had tried to find someone interested in buying them over several
months but no takers. We bid on a house that we could have taken the pigs with us,
but it fell through, so we were back to the drawing board.
In June of this year, we finally got
the funds up to pay out right on a house and things started to move very fast
for us. We gave all the guineas, chickens, and duck to one of my husband’s
friends. That just left the pigs. We had a few people who wanted but never came
to get them. We found the house we couldn't say no to. It meant downsizing a
bunch. We found a cabin on Goose Creek 4 hours away farther south. It was 390
square feet with a huge deck and closed in porch on Goose Creek. When my hubby said he wanted
it I thought he was crazy. We would kill each other! We called the realtor and
said we would take it and that very next day we drove down and checked it out.
Wow it was prefect too. I was sold after that. I didn't want to leave. The town
was small enough for me too. Our son came to check it out and he was ready for
the move too. He saw fishing and that was all it took.
We went back to the house
on the hill and started packing. We were supposed to close early but the owners
had a lien on the house they wanted to come off before the closing, so we had
to wait till the first part of August and past our anniversary. We were supposed
to close at the end of the month. We took another trip down to come for the
inspection. We took our 2 granddaughters with us. They loved it. We took 3 of
out 5 dogs with us too. The girls fished off the deck and I took in the
sights of our front yard. We talked the owners into renting it to us till
closing time. We stayed for a week. The last part of the week, my hubby got a
text from someone saying we were being evicted from the old house. So, we came back a day early to see what was
going on. A court date was set now we were in a crunch time situation. We made
several trips down to the new house. I drove down with my one granddaughter 3
of the dogs, 2 cats and our birds the first trip. That meant I stayed at the
new house while my hubby went back and forth with our brother we adopted. Our
son came to help from Savannah and hung out to fish also. We decided to have a
shed delivered to add more living space to the house. It arrived before we came
down. They couldn’t move it to where we wanted it. Then we had a couple of
freight containers ordered for more space.
July can and went and we were still moving. The freight containers
came while my hubby was gone. We are using one for a tool shop for my hubby and the other for my arts and craft, a place to build doll houses.
Court came too. Nothing happened though because
they tried to change owners in between time, and no one paid of the liens on
the housed on the hill which was a huge number. The case was thrown out. That
gave us some more time to move. We finally found someone who wanted the pigs. Our other 2 dogs and cats made it down also. Our
friend that was taking care of them was so glad for that. The time was getting down
to the wire and I was counting down the days to closing. Then it was postponed
a few more days. I was getting worried them. My daughter came down to pick up
my granddaughter and wanted to know where the rest of the house was. She loved
it though because she knew we had to move or die in that other house. The mold
had gotten worse and so did other things. My hubby came home for a week, and we
celebrated our 31st anniversary together. I didn’t want him to go back but he had his VW
Bug to bring back.
In the meantime, we had a
few hurricanes. We found out the property was sold up there. (Wow she, daughter
of the original owner was going to get her money somehow.) She was quit claimed
the property, yet never paid the liens on it. The man that was buying
said take your time. But even he decided to not buy the place. The “new owner”
started to come up and take things she didn’t own. Our tractor, the dog pens, tire,
and rims that belongs on the trailer, a car and anything that was metal to sell.
She is a drug user and I guess things were getting rough money wise. Someone
even took the tile we were going to use for the bathroom. She even pulled up
the electrical wire in the yard.
I had plants to have someone get for me. my daughter got what she could. I told
everyone to forget anything else we might have wanted and get out of there. What
was left we can do without.
We had been sleeping on a sofa bed for
a while and it was time for my back to have real sleep again, so we moved out
many of the boxes from the shed and put up the bed. Oh yeah! A great night sleep again. Since then, we have added steps to the shed
and added a closet.
Things are getting better.
My daughter came down once more and so did my other son and family. She brought
several of my plants too. Everyone loves the place. My hubby brought the rest
of the plants his last trip up. I have planted many of my plants to their
permanent homes.
I even painted some new signs for the house. Finding room for
everything is a chore but things are coming together. Everything is paid for in
full and we are happy that we have no more mold or leaky roofs. We have wonderful neighbors too. We got replacement
deck board given to us by one and another is giving us his too. That neighbor
will help get the freight containers moved for the new garage and house space.
We need to cut down a few more trees and put in some concrete but that will be
another day. For now, we will take a day at a time to get the place together.
Soon I will get my green house up and plants started. The farm may be gone as
far as animals, but I want to have a greenhouse business But that will be
another day too.
