Today's plan...

I wanted to finish putting the new boards on the deck.  The worst of the rotted ones are gone, but it just looks so half-finished.  But the rain started.  I don't mind getting wet.  The tools are another matter though.

Oh well.  I went into the house. One good thing about having a thousand things to do is that it is easier to deal with interruptions. Just move to another project.

Through the window I saw an official county vehicle coming up the drive.  Uh oh... this can't be good.

Our lovely county representative informed us that we had the noxious weed tansy ragwort on our property and would be responsible for removing it. He walked us down and showed us patches of the plant and showed us the identifying characteristics. Then, Sarah, the boys, and I got busy pulling weeds.  A few hours and two huge bags later we had cleared out all we could find.  Another good thing about having a thousand things to do is that one more doesn't seem like much.

That didn't take long

Interesting day today.  It needs a written note while it is fresh. We have spent the past several days living out in the RV on the land. It was fine at first, but as closing kept getting pushed farther and farther back we watched as our fresh water tank levels dropped, our waste water tank levels rose and our lights dimmed due to low battery. Several times we were operating by headlamp or battery powered candle. Every girls dream, right? Live with your man squatting on some land in a non-functional trailer.  Kids too.  Geeze. 

Eventually, we closed.  The adventure officially began. We could do stuff. We hooked up the sewer system to get the stink down. We didn't know enough about wells or electric to get that turned on without help. We called people.  Again, Bo came to the rescue and gave us names. 

We ran an extension cord from the house over to the RV. Hey, a floor lamp is an improvement when you are living in the dark. The coffee pot on a cookie sheet in the bedroom by the window where the extension cord came through was a little weird, but hey... Coffee.

The propane systems were life savers. 

This morning it all started to come together. I got out with the nail gun and me and the kids started working on the porch. We were periodically interrupted by contractors coming out to help us get the utilities on. The electrician discovered it might need more than he thought and had to go out for parts. The guy helping us with the well showed back up and replaced the pressure gauge and contact points. We turned that sucker on and bingo.  Water.  

 

He checked it at the well first, to test it before turning on the houses making about 10 gallons per minute. The system had been pressure checked during inspection and the boys and I had been in the night before to check all the faucets and make sure they were closed. I wasn't too worried about it, but you never know. 

He turned on the feed to the house and we heard it pressurize with a whoosh. IT just kept running.  There was a leak.  I ran up to the main house and checked everything. Nothing was leaking, but I could hear water pouring.  I followed my ears until I found it.  The hot water heater was filling. 

Whew.  

I ran back and told the well guy.  He was worried. There were air bubbles coming out with the water. That might mean something bad.  He kept explaining it to me and I listened.  It was getting close to time for me to go to work, so we said we would use the water now and worry about it later.  I got up to the house and rigged up a system that ran from the washer hook-up out to the RV so we could have water.  AMAZING!  Electricity and running water at the same time!  

I was getting ready to get into the shower when Michael came up and asked for the door knob for the single wide in the back. That was one of the tasks I assigned him and he wanted to get it out of the way. Sarah and I keep discussing what we are going to do about our potential well problem when Michael comes running back up yelling about water all over the place.

We ran to the single wide. 

Sure enough.  Water was everywhere. I had mistakenly turned the valves for the washer in this one on instead of off.  They were t-handles instead of twist knobs and I had  misinterpreted how they were supposed to be.  10 gallons a minute for around half an hour equals about five inches of water in the whole place.  

It only took me one day to flood the place.

 

 

There are no beginnings but humble beginnings.  I left for work and Sarah and the kids had to clean up my mistake. 

 

Sarah and the boys pulled up all the floor coverings, swept out water contaminated with rat  and mouse poo and cleaned up for five hours.Oh yeah, and the years worth of slime, rust, crust, and whatever else was in the pipes got dumped into the bathroom.  Fun.

Adventure equals discomfort.  We are certainly on an adventure.

 

We are learning. Growth through overcoming adversity.

We did it.

It has been a while folks, but with good reason, as you will see.

The old adventures have slowed as of late and most of that is in preparation for a new brand of adventure.

WE bought a wreck. 

Seriously, what were we thinking?  The place is a total insurance fire waiting to happen. Take a look.

Not that bad, really. What are you talking about a wreck?

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

There are three semi-permanent structures on the land. One is a 1973 Peerless single-wide mobile home. One is a steel clad building where the previous tenant ran a commercial auto and truck garage. The last one is a 1994 Fleetwood double-wide. That one will be our home and the focus of most of our initial attention. And it will need it... All of it.

Wait, that can't be good. Are those mushrooms growing out of the wall?

Well, at least this doesn't look important. It's at the bottom of the wall, that means it is probably extra.

Yeah.


So, the place was foreclosed for two or three years and essentially vacant. The owner lived in a run-down RV hidden on the back of the property until he got too sick to take care of himself. Sad, right. The roof leaked and rotted out a large portion of the back corner of the house. It will need lots of repair.

OK then, how about the inside? 

Well that doesn't look too bad!  Is that laminate flooring?

Yes it is.  Let's take a closer look.

Years of vacancy have taken their toll. Even the Empire questions our sanity.

Yeah, all that's gotta come out.

And the list goes on.

There is:

A leaky bathtub

Mold and mildew

AVERT YOUR EYES!  What is THAT!?!?

Yeah.

So, all my free time is accounted for in the foreseeable future.

The kids are going to learn some skills. 

We moved onto the land.  The power wasn't on, the well won't work.  We were good in the RV for the first few days, but the water ran out, the batteries died and we found ourselves out here in the boonies pretty much totally out of the modern comforts of life.

And we're happy. 

What, you thought we would do it the easy way?  No, the rewards of the hard way are better.

It's 5.9 acres 25 minutes from downtown Olympia. We got into if for a steal because of our legendary realtor (She gets her own blog entry later.  For real, she is amazing.)

It has a garage. 

Comes with abandond cars!

Plenty of room for mayhem.

Children not included.  Well, kinda.

I have plans for this space.

It has...

Fruit trees.  Lots of fruit trees.

And

The single-wide. A blog post of its own someday. 

And

Fields of wild flowers.

And every once in a while...

It does this.

Oh yeah...and we got in under six figures.  It means a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it.  The value will be in the work as much as the final product.

What more could you ask for?