2nd Anniversary

Today marks exactly two years since we bought the farm(stead). It hardly seems possible to me that we've been here that long! Long time readers of The City Slickers recall that we lived in our motor home for 5 years traveling the western USA in search of the perfect place to settle down. We had planned on it being a 10 year journey, but our plans changed as you can tell.

So now that we have two years behind us, you might wonder if we have any regrets or words of wisdom to pass on about our transition from being city folk to our adopted rural lifestyle, and to be sure I could offer our experiences to someone looking for an old farmstead about what just might lay ahead for them.

I've discovered things grow here... MUCH faster than I expected. Staying ahead of the weeds has been a frequent topic of this blog in the past. From mechanized and chemical assault to hand to hand combat, Margie and I have fought a nearly continuous battle against weeds, with no end to the war in sight. Our road is busier than I expected with perhaps as many as 20 cars on an average day, and the biggest surprise has been the number and variety of insects to the point that "bug of the week" has earned it's way into my vocabulary.

We've accomplished much of what we set out to do when we first bought the place, but we have a long way to go. While I consider myself to be pretty handy, I've found that even the simplest job around here seems to turn into a major renovation project. During a recent demolition project while putting up a new chimney, a board was discovered in the attic space that was dated September 1907. They sure don't build 'em like they used to... Plaster walls, and years of adding on and changing the house from it's original design without a basement to a fully finished basement has created some interesting challenges for me... and they just keep coming!

As far as regrets, I don't have many. This last week we purchased a used pickup, and to be honest I have no idea how we got along without one, so not getting the truck sooner would have to go into my regret list. Perhaps getting a metal detector could be added to that list as few people would believe some of the stuff that has worked it's way out of the ground around here, and unfortunately I seem to always find these metal mashers with the blades of my mechanized assault vehicle (lawn mower).

Somewhere along the way, we managed to save the barn, adopt some barn cats, learned a bit about and got involved some in farming operations, and we've met some the nicest people you could meet anywhere. All the reasons we chose to live here have been proven accurate, and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries of our move in the years ahead.

To those that know us, thanks for welcoming us to the neighborhood and reinforcing our notion that we made the right decision when we moved to Furnas county!