Hard Times - Shmard Times

This is a long one and a late one, but maybe after reading it you’ll forgive me or at least feel sorry for me (I would much prefer forgiveness).  Also, I’ll tell you about “the chainsaw incident”.

I’ve heard a nasty rumor that building a house can be extremely difficult on a family, what with our 1 & 4 year olds not being able to pull their weight and at least help clear a tree or two.  Maybe there is a reason they don’t make junior sized chainsaws.  Anyway, building a house is hard, so they say.  Things don’t always go as planned, expenses always seem to grow as you go, and more doom and gloom.  I mean, we are two relatively intelligent adults.  We get it.  Such a big project with two young boys is bound to have a rough day or 20!  But I refer back to our naivety that I call optimism.  Anytime “hard times” are mentioned in reference to our decisions to chase this particular dream, we shrug and say “Psshhhhhh!  Don’t you know we can do anything?!”  The point is, of course it’s hard, but it is worth it.  I guess what I’m getting at is that we are seeing some of these “hard times” but they are not what they seem.

When we finally moved down here it was pretty dang easy as far as moving to a new state goes.  See, we had an accepted offer on our Indiana house 9 days after we listed it (I like to say that even though the closing was postponed again and again, and it still took a while, the offer made us feel warm fuzzies inside)!  THEN, we found our Little Slice of Heaven on our third day out looking at properties.  Just like that!  BOOM!  BOOM!  Check and check!  House sold, property bought!  Let’s go!  (Shout out to the real estate agents, you rock!)  While we did ride this roller coaster all the way to the top of those good times, we knew it wouldn’t always be that easy.

So eventually came a hard day.  One day we were blazing a trail up a hill to put up a fence.  Jon was in front cutting the bigger trees with the chainsaw (duhn duhn DUUUUUHHHHNNNN) and I followed behind clearing the small stuff.  When Jon got to a clearing I heard the chainsaw tap something that was decidedly NOT wood.  That wasn’t alarming until I heard a slight grunt from Jon.  Yes, the chainsaw “tapped” Jon!  I wasn’t sure if I would look up and see Jon standing on one leg with the other leg in his hand, or just that the saw was stuck in a tree trunk.  Jon is THAT good at hiding it when he’s been hurt.  I’ve been with him for 15 years and I couldn’t tell the difference.  (Let’s just assume it doesn’t mean I’m that oblivious.)  Anyway, he was still standing on two legs, and all other appendages seemed to be intact, but there was a fresh hole torn in his jeans at the knee.  I knew it got more than his jeans when Jon asked me to come grab the saw and maybe we should go to the hospital.  When Jon says “maybe we should go to the hospital” it means “we need to get to a hospital NOW!”  Thank God my in-laws were there and they headed for a Burger King with a play area with the boys, and we went on to learn exactly how long the drive is from our future home to the nearest hospital, a handy piece of information in our family.

For those with a strong stomach here are a couple photos.  If you do not have a strong stomach, DO NOT look at these photos!!!  It’s not horrendous, but I don’t want to lose any readers because I induce vomiting or anything!

Seriously!  Please don’t get sick.  I’ll feel really bad!

The before and after really don’t look that different, do they?

Is it weird that I still think my hubby looks hot in this photo?  Show me dem legs!!  Ew, but not that one!

After x-rays and 20 stitches it turned out he cut himself directly over his knee cap but managed to do no damage to tendons or bones, only the flesh…  be it a lot of flesh, he was lucky.  THANK GOD!!  That was a rough day, especially for Jon.

Since then most of our problems have been related to things breaking down….to be more accurate, EVERYTHING breaking down.  This includes our truck, car, backhoe, tractor, and 4-wheeler.  At one point we literally did not have ANYTHING with wheels that ran.  So we bought an extra farm truck, complete with 4 wheel drive (now we can finally make it up our driveway!).  Then guess what…  That’s right, THAT broke down…  TWICE!  Thankfully Jon is a genius, as I’ve said before and has been able to quickly get the tractor and backhoe back in commission.  When the vacuum pump went out in the truck, he limped it into town and raced the clock as O’Reilly’s prepared to close for the night.  I think it was right at 60 minutes from the time the vacuum pump failed till Jon had the truck running again!  Like I said, the man is a genius or at the very least has magical powers!  Jon even got the 4-wheeler running, and will have the farm truck running back up the House Hill by this weekend!  We suspected the car needed a transmission rebuild, but an honest mechanic changed the torque converter (a much cheaper fix) and we had no problems with the car during our weeklong road trip last week!  Thank you, Mr. Honest Mechanic!  Today our farm fleet is doing much better.

Something important that I’ve been reminded of the past couple of weeks through these “hard times” is that as bad as these difficulties seem, it’s really not that bad.  In fact, it’s still pretty amazing.  We are reenergized every day when we step foot on the “House Hill” and stand where the porch will be and take a quick look at what we will wake up to… someday.  The boys are enjoying this dream as well.  When I put Willie down to bed I ask him every night, “What are you going to dream about tonight?”  My favorite answer is, “I’m going to dream about when we live at the Homestead all the time and we can play there all the time!”  This is one of those times I feel like we’re doing something right.  Even without a home or a single running engine on the property, we have an amazing thing to share together as a family…   and hopefully with many of you who will surely come visit!  Don’t worry; you don’t have to come visit until after we have running water and power, and probably a functioning bathroom.

Finally, I said I would work on a name for our place.  I haven’t gotten very far, but feel free to leave your suggestions (please).  We’ll address this again next time, as well as our adventures in installing our own septic system, and what happens when a dump truck driver lacking in skill attempts to deliver 26 tons of gravel via the barely passable driveway…  but there are good times to report as well!

What our dream looks like - at the moment

These photos might give you a little insight as to why we are so excited about being in Kentucky. THIS is what we found here! In these photos you’ll find two things: a lot of potential and a lot of work.

This is one of the first things we saw when we first looked at the property.  Our driveway now runs up the middle of this valley to the top of the hill.  When we first hiked up this holler (yeah, I can use the Kentucky lingo) this is what we found…

Mmmm-hmmm. That is the top of a telephone pole you see in the bottom right and my hubby and first born in the top left. That is a cliff, my friends, at least by my standards.

This is probably one of the major reasons the local ER will know us and our boys on a first name basis, but it sure is pretty, huh?  Our driveway turns when you reach the top of the hill coming out of the holler.  If you went straight instead this is what you would find… a sheer drop off.  Seriously, how are we going to keep our boys from playing on this?!  Jon says just to give in and invest in rock climbing equipment and lessons.  I say build a wall much like The Great Wall of China, but maybe we’ll find some middle ground.

This is the top of the hill where the house will be.  We will have this view…

I can’t wait to see it this fall!  As we build the house some of the trees will have to go to make room, and some to make our flooring, so the view will open up quite a bit.  Now the only reason Brown County will be worth the drive is to revisit where we were married.  <3  Sorry, Indiana.

When we first looked at this land we wanted to see as much of it as possible, but our treks out into the brush were mostly less than successful.  THIS is what we were contending with-- with two boys in tow.  What isn’t a pine tree in this photo is a thorn bush.  When we finished our hike we were covered in two things - scratches and ticks!  We actually started one particular hike with a plastic bag carrying a couple water bottles.  By the time we made it to a clearing, the bag was literally in shreds and we had the bottles in hand.  What we learned from this is that sometimes we jump into things before we think it through much.  Even so, we will probably jump into the next thing too hastily as well.  You’ll see plenty of evidence of this in the future.

This is the day we closed on the property!  Let me introduce the family.  Clockwise from left: Conor (1), Me, Jon, and Willie (4 this weekend!).  As you can see, Willie was eager to get to work.

Conor is quite a little nature lover.  If only he didn’t express his love by eating it.

This is Toro, one of our four legged family members, playing with Willie on what we are calling the West Hill.

…and another random photo of Toro, just because we love him so!

Here are Jon, Conor, and Toro hiking the East Hill.  This photo is taken from a deer stand left on the land in one of those “and that’s not all…” infomercial deals.  You buy land and they throw in a deer stand!  THAT’S how we do it in Kentucky!

This is a view of the House Hill in the background, as well as many of the dead trees and results of unfortunate logging from decades past.

Now that you’ve had a tour of the land, I’ll start sharing some of our adventures in preparing for construction including clearing trees, working with tractors, driving 4+ hours one way for our #1 investment otherwise known as a backhoe, close calls with the chainsaw (yeah, it happened, but the stitches are out and the wound is almost healed), and other excitement sure to be found on this Little Slice of Heaven.  Also, now that you’ve seen it, you may not see the “Heaven” in this land that we do, but just you wait.  It’s there.

Maybe by next time, I’ll dream up some kind of real name for “The Property”. Have any suggestions?

Our Little Slice of Heaven - "Grand Opening"

Now for the real start of the blog.  Think of that first entry as the pre-opening and this is the grand opening that will maybe be even better.  Imagine big signs, and balloons, and a little fake excitement, just the way TJ Maxx would do it.  Now here’s a photo just to keep you reading.

This is our horse, Rocket.  He really doesn’t have anything to do with this entry, but you should keep reading anyway.

Why am I blogging?  Well, my hubby, Jon and I, are perpetually falling in love, and we are chasing our dreams with our two beautiful boys (and ANOTHER baby on the way!  Whhhhaaaat?  Yeah, I guess we like babies a little bit.)   And I guess I just want to brag tell you about it.  I think there is a lot of excitement in life if you ride the line between choosing to be brave and risk doing something stupid.  We can serve as an example of riding that line, and you’ll see that when we mess up life is still great and there is so much to enjoy.  I want to spread the word that it is worth risking hard times to live the life you want…or you can all just laugh at our hysterical naivety that I prefer to call optimism, and continue in your cynicism as we continue to have a great time in this adventure.  Did I just come across as cynical… definitely not.  I could never have such a vice.

Back to my bragging story.  Jon and I, we are soul mates/best friends/awesome (yeah, I said soul mates, gag if you must).   We have been together since I was 14 and he 16.  Here’s proof, thanks to one of our youth counselors who shared this on Facebook.  Now I get to share it with you:

 So the story goes that we dated all through high school and college, got hitched (with a hog roast, no less – it was a classy hog roast, you can ask our wedding guests) then we started having babies!  And THEN… the hospital just sent us on our way and said “make sure the car seat is in the middle, and put this goop on your nipples.”  Well, that’s what I remember at least, but I’ve slept since then not had a single full night of sleep since the third trimester of the first pregnancy 4 years ago.  It’s all a blur…..                                               

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  Both our boys are so beautiful, so smart, so funny, and so loving!  So, maybe somewhere between all the things we don’t do quite right, we’re getting something right. 

That brings us to 2012.  We live in Kentucky, Y’all!!  We have been trying to move here for 3 years!  We probably could have just walked down here in that amount of time, but that’s not our style.  Our style is going on and on for years about our big plans and how it’s going to happen any day… then one day, the man (Hubby’s company) FINALLY calls up and says “Sure!  Come work in Kentucky, where the land is beautiful (and inexpensive) and it’s slightly warmer and awesome because they have Ale 8 in abundance – look it up.”  Then, we say “OKAY!!”  We pack up enough stuff to fill a camper; we sell our house; we find and buy our little slice of Heaven. Now we are Wildcat fans!  ).  Isn’t that every little girl’s dream?  Fall in love, kids, wildcats? Something like that.

So now that I have officially started this blog, what can you expect to find here? I’m sure to go on and on wrestling with homebuilding decisions (like, whether or not to line the boys rooms with padding – just kidding, sound proofing should suffice), parenting dilemmas, more bragging about my spouse, and all the hilarity that is sure to ensue with a family of 4 (soon-to-be 5) uprooting, settling, building, and playing in this beautiful land!  Also, I like to fantasize about being a photographer (www.facebook.com/MelissaHeffelfingerPhotography), so I’ll probably throw some of that in there too.  What you will NOT find on this blog is an expert opinion on anything.  There will be plenty of opinions, but what they will lack is an expert source.

Tomorrow I’ll post some photos to show you how our dreams are materializing.

First Day of Summer - Pools, Hotdogs, Ice Cream, & Good Samaritans

Today is a great day to start a blog!  Not, at all, for any of the reasons I have wanted to start a blog, but I’m writing nonetheless.  I will write next time about the reasons I thought our lives might be interesting enough to blog about, but today, this will be completely unrelated…  but possibly not a complete waste of your time.

Today is the first day of summer and it has come with all kinds of excitement.  We’ve done some typical, fun, summer activities but topped off the day with some unexpected, non-fun, non-summer….  Crap.  I’m just being honest.  It’s crap.  Not literally.  It’s not, in fact, feces, but it’s still…  well, you know.  In a house with two young boys, I feel like that distinction is necessary.

In true cool Mama fashion I had great “first day of summer plans” of blowing up the baby pool (even if it leaves the hubby and me light-headed), hotdogs on the grill for lunch, and a run for ice cream cones.  All of which we did!  Great!  Our kids think they have a super cool pool – check; provide fun, but nutritionally lackluster meal that everyone loves – check; stuff everyone’s tummy’s with even more summer junk food with chocolate on top – check!  We are incredible parents!

Then back to reality.  Daddy must go to work.  The boys and I begin an afternoon of errands in our recently unreliable car.  After some “car issues” (since I don’t know what else to call it) I dutifully watched all the gauges, reasoning through the readings with countless flawed assumptions until….  It happened.  A little light started blinking.  30 seconds later, there I was along the highway in 90+ degree heat with two young boys, and a car that won’t move an inch!  Some kind of transmission problem – boring!  We’re still trying to figure out exactly what’s going on, but I’m leaving that to my genius husband.  No really he’s a genius.  I don’t mean he’ll solve all the world’s problems or anything (afterall Oprah needs something to do), but he really is about as awesome as a man comes.  I’ll ramble on about that more later.

What I’m interested in now is what happened after I stopped along the road.  See, in our previous state of residence over a period of 10 to 15 years I’ve been stranded with a car in one way or another and handful of times, and the reaction (or lack thereof) of those passing by always surprised me.  The most memorable of these instances occurred when I was extremely pregnant with our first son (imagine a short girl with a regulation NBA basketball under her shirt), on a VERY cold winter morning.  I was driving my husband’s very large diesel truck.  As any normal pregnant woman would do, I forgot to unplug the truck before I backed out of the drive, therefore, also, forgetting to close the hood of the truck.  A tenth of a mile up the road, guess what happened.  I got a windshield full of blue truck hood!  It didn’t double back, but still flew up with such force that it was stuck.  In the below zero temps (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but it makes the story better than just saying it was cold doesn’t it?) before the sun was up, there I was literally hanging from the hood with my belly hanging over the radiator and feet dangling just below the bumper.  Let’s all take a moment to picture this…  It’s ok to laugh at me.  Ok?  Guess where my neighbors were!  Watching from their front door as they drank their steaming hot coffee!!  I was just as angry about the lack of response from our own neighbors as I was my mistakes that led to the current predicament.  I did find a very large, very heavy monkey wrench in the toolbox.  What was I going to do with the monkey wrench, you ask?  I beat the crap out of the hinges on the hood!  I had flashbacks to high school softball, and I was swinging at the plate!  By then there was no hope of getting help.  I mean, who is going to approach a pregnant lady wielding such a large chunk of medal in that manner?  I’ll tell you who wouldn’t!  The people that lived 3 houses down from us!!  After a few  intervals of wailing away on the hinges and thawing my hands in the cab, the hinges gave; I closed the hood, waved at my warm neighbors, and started my 1 hour drive to work.  That is what happens when you break down in that state.

Do you know what happens in THIS state when you’re stuck alongside the road?  In a matter of 10 minutes 4 cars stopped to help!!  3 of those 4 drivers crawled under the car to give their two cents.  I won’t consider the difference of traffic, time of day, the fact that I had two young children, or any other facts.  The fact that matters to me is that people stopped to help.  We love Kentucky already, but every day we are here, even the “bad” ones, we find reasons to love it more.  If you know which state we moved from, don’t be offended.  We disliked it for more reasons than the lack of good Samaritans.  Just kidding…  kind of.

Again, next time I’ll fill you in on “Our Little Slice of Heaven” and why I think I need to write about it.  (I’ll give you a hint, much like what I assume much social media sharing is, I just want to brag).