Thanks for asking :)

Still on the farm (for another nine weeks) until they come to kick us out...or we might stay. It's been like this for the past 10 months. We're moving, we're staying, we're moving, we might have financing....very stressful!

At this point, I just want to make a decision. While I'd like to stay, it's the uncertainty that's making everything so difficult. We can't plan anything and the hope that we just might stay is distracting us from moving forward...literally.

The man who farms for us (nice guy!) want to buy the land and sell back just the house and pasture area to us. This would be great, if it were last summer and we had many months to negotiate with the mortgage company. Instead, we have nine weeks and I'm getting very nervous that this isn't going to happen in time.

Meanwhile, I'm still looking and have found a few possibilities. Further from town than we'd like...and a bit smaller acreage...but good price. We'll know more in the next few weeks (seems I say that all the time) but we really will, since time is almost up. After my husband's illness, the medical bankruptcy, the stress...I need a vacation!!! :)

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 16:45

ACK I hate the uncertainty. I feel for you LL.

Thank you! We're looking at a place in Idaho tomorrow (further north than you are) but still....same state :)

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen/sitting area. So pretty...hope it's this nice in person! {{gwi:2137378}}From Home pictures
{{gwi:2137379}}From Home pictures
{{gwi:2137380}}From Home pictures

And a purple bathroom...with a claw foot tub!!! {{gwi:2137381}}From Home pictures

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 13:44

FYI, the kitchen table will not work where it is in that photo. Ask me how I know. On graph paper it looked fine. In real life, not even close.

Well I LOVE the turquoise and purple. How did it go? Was it a good one. What was on the floors? I could not figure it out. was it painting or?

It was not a good fit. Too many stairs!! The kitchen was cute, but the bedrooms were all reached by skinny, curving steps with little to no hand rail. So...still looking.

Yesterday, we saw a home on 5 acres, with two outbuildings. It has an older manufactured home, but it's cute...and no stairs! The price and location are great. I'd like a few more acres, but it would definitely work.

They're still negotiating over price on this place...but it's SO SLOW I don't know that they're going to come to any agreement in time.

I'll let you know how things progress....thanks for your concern. I do appreciate it! :)

What was on the floors? Looked like painted stone or?? Just curious. I sure do hope you get some sort of resolve to this. I do feel for you hanging in limbo like you are.

I think they were some kind of vinyl tile. We didn't look that closely, once we saw all the stairs :(

Now, we're looking at 5 acres in Idaho...closer to town than this farmhouse. There are two outbuildings and a house (LOL) which is kind of the last thing we look at, with horses! It's a 1969 trailer (Yikes, I know) but it has a free-standing roof and it's actually pretty cute. A little water damage, but doesn't seem too bad. We'd need a home inspection, but the barns are nice! I'd like more land, but it's only 5 minutes to the store. 5 MINUTES!!! I can't imagine getting in the car and driving 5 minutes to shop! :)

Sounds like a winner to me. We really searched around in all parts of Idaho. Landed here. We liked Weippe, Kamiah and Kooski but the winter smog kind of sucks up there. Lewiston is a smelly town because of the paper mill. We never went around much in the top part of Idaho. Beautiful up there though. We avoided stairs too. Just the little bit I go up to the loft in the shop hurts my hip. Good luck.

Thanks! We decided to go North, so it's a bit cheaper. This is just outside Newport/Oldtown....and close to Priest River, too. More snow (usually) and longer winter, but beautiful.

Is it a done deal?

man that is gorgeous!

Not a done deal...and not our view, but very pretty! The picture (above) is the Newport/Oldtown bridge. If we move to this place, we'd be about 5 minutes away...but also pretty :)

Considering your hubby's health, how easy will it be to get out of there during/after a snow storm? Hospital there?

I'm really not trying to rain on your parade, just thinking what it's like here during winter. And how long winter can last. You'll have to buy hay for 7-8 months? or you have enough acreage to grow and put up your own? How often does the power go out? Generator? What kind of furnace?

I like the 5 minute drive to town. How big is the town? I can be in town in 5 minutes but I can only buy gas (if the guy is there) , a stamp (if the P.O. is open), whatever the convenience store has (if it's open) or eat at the "restaurant" (if it's open). So I don't consider myself living 5 miles from town. I'm really 12 miles from the one grocery store town and if I really need to shop for a variety of things, it's 35 miles.

yes, I'd be concerned about being snowed in, how to get out, emergency help, loss of power etc.

I love all the pine trees. You have a tractor already don't you LL? Most places that get snow like this provide plowing services by many people trying to make a winter buck. Our neighbor pays the guy to plow out two huge and long driveways about $80. Would be about 40 per house. We have a 5 foot wide plow on our Ranger and I can plow us out in less than an hour. I usually plow all the way across the front to be sure to give me room to keep putting the snow for the years we get big snows of four foot on the ground or so.

I am sure in snow country like we have here the ambulances are equipped to handle snowed in driveways. I worried a bit about it here the year Joe was so sick and the guy that plowed for the city told me if I could not handle it he would take care of me. Also many times you can offer the neighbor with a plow gas money and a little on top.

First of all...this is what our place looks like on most winters! LOL And our current town has a convenience store, a restaurant and a tavern. No grocery store closer than 20 minutes and the hospitals are half hour away. I drove over 45 minutes each way (every day) when my husband was sick.

If we move...the hospital will be 5 minutes away. Along with the grocery store, pharmacy, library, many shops, restaurants, etc. It's a real town!!! :)

We don't have a plow, but we plan to put a blade on our back-up 4WD. There's also a guy (according to current owner) who will plow out everything for $50 first time, $25 if needed again. This is SO much better than our current location. There's a bit more snow up North, but not that much more.

As for the horses, we buy hay for 8-9 months a year right now. If we move, it would probably be year round, but we'll also be buying for one less horse. It would be nice to find a place with more grass for the horses, but with cross-fencing, I think this would still work. Really just comes down to finding financing.

Thanks for looking out for us...and asking all the right questions! :)

Here's a picture of our current place, back when we had snow....

It's all good, then!

After I took the starving horse the end of Sept. I had to buy more good hay; I hadn't planned on an extra mouth to feed, and feed, and feed! He eats like a horse! So anyway, I ended up paying $6 a bale (delivered) for grass with some alfalfa in it. I'll buy it right off the field this summer. On top of that, it's been bitterly cold so much of the time, I give them more hay than I think they will eat just to be sure they have something digesting all the time. A lot of that ends up on the bathroom floor. I bought some hay bags which has helped with the waste but Someone who shall remain nameless but you can call her Pony, is able to get the bag off the O ring that it's snapped to. I've tried so many ideas I found on line to manage the hay but she's one step ahead of me every time. She's the one who finds the unlocked gate that she has never walked through before, the weak spot in the fence that no one else can see, she even knows how to open the stall gate to "help" starving horse eat. I have to stay in the barn while he eats. If I don't lock it, starving horse can let himself out when he's finished. Fortunately, she knows my "mother" voice and I only have to use it to make her mind.

Hahahah on Pony. Shame.