Throw it down and walk away

We have had some hard decisions to make recently. About the land, about retirement, about building a home. We are no closer to an answer, the right one at that. We even toyed with the idea of filling in the main pond, or selling the land and starting over. A quick online research of property for sale, with or without homes, showed me that that would be an asinine thing to do at this point, and it didn't take us 20 years to find this property because we had so many options to choose from! If we were to sell it, we would be back at the start with no other viable options for getting out of the this house and into nature and our forever home. So the obsessing and worrying continues.

As we continue the back and forth between Winter and Spring, and are finally in the woods of whatever hellish virus we caught, we continue to do the little bits that we can. I have spent more time than I should trying to finish these pumpkin earrings. I usually have to start over no less than three times. First one is done! Just need to trim the threads and put on the ear hook.

Although Woodchucks intentions were good, and goals lofty, he indeed did not meet the goal of getting our sons bathroom completely remodeled before his surgery (which I am taking him to in about an hour). Plus, with me not being there to see the little things, he didn't notice that some of the older plaster has mold on it. So that will all need to be torn out. Maybe he was going to tear it out anyway, but he seemed surprised when I sent the pictures of the mold.

Those are some wide boards! This is the area where the exhaust fan will go. Woodchuck said that there's still asphalt shingle-style siding on the house too!

They picked up the drywall already, so just a tad more demo to do, then wiring for the exhaust fan and some replacement wiring for other things that might not be up to code and are a fire hazard.

While the bathroom is on hold for now, we are making quick stops at the land. An important stop was to cage the front arborvitae that we planted last year and that have been stripped by the wildlife. I don't know that these cages will make a difference, but I had to try some thing.

We also got the chain unwrapped that the neighbor wrapped around a small tree. It took both of us to get it unwrapped.

I saw my first bluebird of the season out there! Not my picture, found this one online. I had to use it to help me decipher if it was a bluebird or blue bunting. I can never remember which is which.

I had a follow up with my GP for some lab and I was feeling freshly sick and thinking we had the flu. They tested me for the flu and Covid and both came back negative. He said that a lot of people were coming in thinking they had the flu and it ended up not being that, just some virus. Yeah well, the "just some virus" was a beast and kicked our butts. Back when I was growing up, you could tell if you had the flu or a cold. Now all of the lines are blurred.

On another trip to the land, we placed markers at the edge of the pond where about 4-6 inches of land is getting ready to slump in. I want visuals. I want proof that others can see that I am not making shit up, and this is not something to ignore. We have ONE WAY to get to other side of the property with the tractor, and we can't lose this land to slumping anymore. At some point I'm going to get tired of being ignored and treated like a stupid girl and I will take charge, but for right now, I am giving others the chance to step up and do the right thing.

With the "Spring" thaw and rains, water levels are high all over. It's a beautiful day though, with mirrored skies in the water.

My hips/legs/ankles were feeling well enough to finally walk the watershed and grab those trail cam SD cards and get eyes on the land. I am always amazed at how many Oothecas I find. On this trip it was three of them.

My eyes are constantly scanning. I'm afraid if I keep looking down too much, I will miss something higher up. These views, for instance.

The sandhill cranes are on the move into the area again, though we have never seen any at our land.

Hello, Mr. Blue Sky!

We thought we would also try and get over along the watershed pond too. I had to be really careful not to slip. These tractor tire marks are always here now, but I can see the watershed pond levels have nearly reached them.

Indeed, I was able to establish that the newest flooding issue we have is because the watershed pond overflowed on the lowest land side. That tree would normally be on dry land, and it is now an island and surrounded by water. We passed that information along to the company that is working to fix the main pond and the flooding to the side of it.

I am so grateful to have seen the pussy willows get their fuzzies! One of my favorite trees since I was a child, I thought I had missed them this year, but they were there waiting for me! 

We refer to this flooded area now as "the third pond", and the ducks are loving it.

The water meal already started back on the warmer days, with what looks like tree bud chafings mixed in.

We feel like we are in limbo right now, but I also feel like everything is happening as it should.

Satisfied that we could do all that we could on this trip, we headed home for showers and dinner. We made the last of the Pierogi up, and in case you ever wondered why we named our cat Pierogi, here's a picture for reference.

I have been itching to get back to creating. I decided to take advantage of the sunlight we get coming in through the East bedroom window! It was short-lived, but glorious.

I always love when we go to the land and hear ducks. After seeing a crane take off from the edge of the water, we could hear ducks (a male and female mallard)....but then also...

Geese. They are not our favorite to have there, but we understand the draw of the water to them. They don't stay long, and honestly, with so much mud, I don't know that they will try and nest again (so far, in five years, they have never had babies).

This was our last trip back to the land before Woodchucks sinus surgery, and the weather was once again beautiful. On this trip, things with the house idea were really coming to a head. A decision needed to be made, or I need out from under this weight. But not just any decision, the smartest one that we can make that will ensure our comfort in retirement, and ability to afford to live at the land. So we walked and talked. The flood waters continue to rise. Have I ever told you about the floods in Louisiana? When we lived there for a bit when I was in pre-K, we lived on a road that ran along the Amite River. And gator danger and contamination be damned, we swam in the flood waters! With the hips and ankles I have now, I am not even walking in this water! 😂

There's nothing quite like sunlight reflected on shimmering waters.

We decided to sit and watch and listen and dream and talk. Such a pivotal time it is! Still recovering from hip surgery, both of us still recovering from something viral, do we keep the land or sell it? Do we move forward with the original house plan, or change that? I know the answer is coming. I just need to keep my hands off and my wants out, while also being a voice of reason. It will all work out.

I could snuggle up and take a nap right here, but Woodchuck says I have to wait until we are living out there, and this bench is used by a squirrel for a dinner table. So, I guess that means that my relaxation time is over.

Between the virus and my autoimmune stuff, the sun is hurting my eyes. But I'm grateful that it's out!

We made a couple of trips to Bailey's Discount Center down in North Judson, for things for us and for our youngest who has been talking about moving out but still hasn't followed through with looking at places yet. The sandhill cranes LOVE that area! Fields and skies full of them!

While we are all grateful for the sun and slightly warmer temps, they fueled some intense storms. I can see the front moving in as we left the discount center to head home.

This is not my picture, but shows what a storm chaser caught. It hit about 20-30 minutes South of us, in the area that we had been shopping in. The lightening, winds, and pouring rain that we had here at home were INSANE. Tornado and severe weather sirens were going off, but we never lost power. I had a video for you to see that showed the intense lightening we had, but I couldn't get it to load.

Pierogi doesn't like storms, but was really brave this time! I could tell when it picked up in intensity because that's when she went and hid in the corner. Once the storm threat passed, she was exhausted and went face first into the blanket!

It took me awhile to type this up, and some decisions have been made about the land and housing! So stay tuned, the next post will updates about that stuff!