Decisions Decisions

Jason was beyond disappointed, he was disgusted, we felt we'd been deceived when we purchased the property from the owners, who knew about the loud, obnoxious, incessant drone of a rumbling diesel engine, or generator, which ever one was keeping the refrigerated semi trailer cool. Even some of the neighbors came to us later with stories of our new-to-us, illustrious neighbors. We spent the rest of the day depressed and praying for guidance. Do we lose the few hundred dollars we'd put as down payment on the land, do we ask to exchange the parcel for a different one in the same subdivision (none were quite as good as the one we'd settled on), if we leave the land, where are we going to buy instead, because the horses need a few acres and the kids need to stay in the school district?

Jason went back out to the property on Sunday afternoon to look around again, get his bearings, and make a decision. I left this up to him. I can get used to just about anything, I didn't think he could. He came home and reported the semi was gone and one neighbor said the semi is usually only there on weekends, and then not every weekend.

He looked the property over really well and decided that he could put the barn as a barrier to the sound at the back of the property. We lose some prime garden planting soil, and the house will need to go where we'd planned the barn to go to get maximum sound isolation. There were really no other affordable options for acreage unless we wanted to be even further away from Jason's work, and only two subdivisions like this one that were still in the kids' school district. The other, we'd decided, was too far out, the land was mostly wooded, and too expensive to clear for a home site, much less good grazing. Our oldest was a Junior in high school and the transition out of the school district would be too hard on him and his studies. The decision was made, we'd keep the property and learn to live with the sound.

Several more trips out to the property that week and we'd figured out where the barn would sit, where the house would be built, and where we'd park the camper while building. The boys helped Jason get the well up and running and I found a steel shed kit for $200 at a scratch and dent store that we'd put over the well and store our building tools in for now. Plans were coming along now.

It's now well into August, school is about to start, and the count down to moving has begun. We didn't know our move-out-date then, but it turned out to be Thanksgiving weekend. I rented a storage unit close to our building site (about 4 miles away) and began packing up our house, knowing we'd be living in very cramped quarters, almost EVERYTHING had to get packed. While I am a very organized person, and my oldest is, as well, the other three are NOT. He and I packed boxes and labeled everything clearly. Michael packed everything (and I mean everything, even dirty socks) and just labeled boxes "M". Shannon packed everything (at least I think there were some dirty socks in there, because there's a whole basket of unmatched socks of hers) and labeled them "Shannon's stuff", "Shannon's Bedroom", and a few had pertinent labels like "toys", "books" or "crafts". Jason didn't pack ANYTHING. I don't know if he just didn't see the move coming or he just really hates packing, but he had ample opportunity. I was very adamant, I was NOT packing his things because I was not going to be accused of losing them. Sigh... We also had two storage sheds (his and hers...mine was mostly packed because it was Christmas decorations...his was mostly tools and hardware) and a HUGE barn to pack up (not very full, but everything out there was coated with dirt and grime). In the end we ended up renting two storage units, one for the house and one for the barn.