Happy Birthday Indeed!

Today for my birthday, my husband bought me a farm.  How generous and giving of him!  As I celebrate my mid 50 birthday I am so thankful for the blessings I have and the adventures that await.  The threshold of 2015 is beckoning with opportunities, and learning and growing experiences.

Our snowy front yard and road beyond and then our neighbors beyond that.

Our peaceful back 20.

We met with the seller's daughter prior to the close at 1:00 p.m.  She had graciously agreed to walk the property lines with us.  We had no survey and had some questions about our property boundaries.  Jeff, I and Michelle donned our boots, hats, and extra thick gloves (at least I did) and headed out.  The temperature hovered around 15 but the sun was shining bright.  The snow on the lawn was only about six inches deep.  As we walked further into the fields and woods, the snow became deeper.  I had chosen to wear my new wellies with alpaca socks for warmth, thinking I was quite clever.  The snow was deeper than my wellies in most places and I soon respectfully allowed the seller, Michelle, to blaze the trail through the depths.  At the farthest point from the house, I saw our realtor, Julie, frantically scanning the horizon for us. I realized we were going to be late for our closing, since it was almost 12:50 p.m.  Have you ever tried to run in thigh high snow?  It has a slow motion kinda feel.  When we finally arrived back at the house, me with blocks of ice for feet, Julie was ecstatic.  She couldn't see us (for some unknown reason because I could see her just fine) and was afraid she would have to call 911 because she would have been useless to us (Her words, not mine).   Apparently it is possible to be swallowed by thigh high snow?  I spent the next two hours at the closing with wet jeans from the knees down.  The snow topped my wellies and melted leaving my jeans soaking wet.  Clever indeed.  

Kidding aside, our realtor Julie, was wonderful and has guided and educated us through this whole farm buying business.  We love her and now consider her a friend.  The sellers, who we met for the first time today, were gracious and patient, answering all of our questions.  The closing went smoothly, wet jeans not included, and we now are the proud owners of two mortgages.

 As I stood looking out the dining room window over the "backyard" of our new home, the sun was heading towards the horizon and casting a golden light over the snow (which I failed to capture with my camera).  Peace and calm wafted around me and I didn't want to leave.  I've had moments when I doubted the wisdom of our choice of property and the direction we've chosen.  I didn't feel any doubts this afternoon.  It felt like home.

D :)

We're Going To Buy The Farm

Tomorrow is the big day!  We're going to Evart to commit ourselves on paper to another 20 year mortgage.  In exchange we get 27.5 acres of prime pastureland and a beautiful house to go with it.  I've been trying to keep my excitement to a dull roar.  The last week has been stressful trying to get all the t's crossed and the i's dotted in time.  I'll allow myself full fledged belief, excitement and relief once we walk out of the title company office.  It has been an eventful path that has led us to this crossroads.  I'm realizing that this will be our last Christmas in this house.  Bittersweet.

This was our last trek for our Christmas tree at Candy Cane ChristmasTree Farm.  We've been cutting our own tree there for at least 10 years.  The outting participants include my parents, by daughter and myself.  Jeff opted out about 8 years ago.  No judgement.

The perfect tree, small and lean because we don't have much room.

The first cut is always the hardest.

Don't I look so happy!

This tree didn't go easily.  I ended up breaking it off the with an1 inch to go.  It had to be the saw.

Home and decorated.  Moses isn't so sure it passes muster.

Linus is captivated.

D :)

Kitty Weaving

Oh Linus!

Linus has a string he loves to weave in and out of the dining room chairs.  I am a novice videographer so my video of him creating his masterpiece is crude but I think you'll get the gist.  Also my technical skills to transfer the video are rudimentary.  I will seek assistance from a skilled techy type person for the next video.  (Dave, where are you?  Help.)

Linus loves his string and what he creates with it.

 I came home from work the other night to find my vase sitting on the kitchen counter with a note "Guess who did this?"  There can be only one culprit.  I'm surprised he hasn't broken something sooner than this.

Gluing the pieces together.

It will now have rustic charm.

Speaking of kitty weaving, I've completed my first knitting project.  It was a summer cotton vest.  It only took me, let see from February to September, about nine months.  Just in time for cooler weather.   At this rate I'll be completing projects just in time for the next season to begin.

The Front

The B76yack.

Not to be daunted, however, because I've already got my next project underway.  I'm knitting a cap out of home spun 100% alpaca yarn from Spinners End Farm.  I love working with this yarn.  It has a silky smoothness that feels organic and real. The thick and thin spin of the yarn from the hand spinning gives it a rustic charm.  The yarn was woven by Sherry from Spinners End Farm (also the human keeper of Linus prior to his adoption by us).  Thank you Sherry for both.  Honestly, I'm not kidding.  We love our Linus!

I've never cabled before, so this is a new skill to add to my slow growing knitting repertoire.  It is fascinating to watch the "cable" being twisted as I utilize the cable needle.  Knitting is just chock full of creative, innovative stitches and manipulation of the stitches that create artistic patterns. It feels like magic.  Why did I wait so long to learn this craft?

I love the slight color variations and small slubs and little "guard"? hairs from this lovely alpaca yarn.

 I've also decided to start another project.  Like I'm so speedy that I'll finish the first before spring.  Ah, but I couldn't resist the yarn and pattern.  It was also suggested by Lori of Skeins On Main, where I take my knitting lessons, that it isn't a bad idea to work on two projects.  In case you inadvertently hit the wall on one project, you can work on the second project while waiting for your class and Lori to rescue your mess.  I have just a teensy bit of first hand experience with this.

Look at the colors in this yarn.

 I'm knitting a scarf created by Sue Hendricks, of Skeins On Main, and it is a curvy, wavy, delight.  The yarn I'm using is Lang Jawoll Magic, a blend of wool and nylon.

The latest update on the farm includes a call from our banker today.  Looks like everything is a go!  The appraisal was just above our buying price and the underwriters were happy with comparables in the area.  We locked in our rate at 4.125%.  We have 23 days to close.  Evart here we come!

D :)

Sad Kitty Monster

Today Linus lost his manhood.  :(  He survived the ordeal and seems to be recovering just fine at home, though his pupils remain dilated and he is somewhat subdued.  I'm confidant he will be back to his usual basket of tricks tomorrow.  The staff at the vet's were quite taken with him and I wasn't sure they were going to give him back to me.

A sad Linus (notice the tongue).

A sleepy Linus

Look at the size of those paws!  He weighed 7.1 pounds today at about 5 1/2 months.

Awww...

Farm Purchase Update:
No news is good news regarding the farm purchase, right?  The appraisal was done last Wednesday and the paperwork is at the bank.  We should have news about the appraisal later this week.  The appraisal is my only concern.  I keep telling myself I'm not going to worry unless it doesn't appriase at the purchase price.  Time enough to worry then.  I'll keep you posted.


D :)

Home Sweet Farm!

The future home of D & J's alpaca farm.

Today Jeff and I headed north to Evart, Michigan, where we met with the building inspector at the house which we will own, God willing, by the end of this year.  The house was built in 2004 and is on 27.5 acres of open rolling pastureland.  Perfect for our future alpaca farm! 

There is not a barn or fencing but the property and house are the ideal starting point to build from.  The house passed the inspection with only two small imperfections that need to be corrected.  The water from the well is being tested and results should be on Monday.  The inspector deemed the house a "well built home."  We won't need to invest money in "fixing it up," because it is in move in condition.  Except maybe for the interior paint colors.  The designer in me will require paint color changes.  Yes, most assuredly.  Fortunately I have lots of hands on experience in that department and come to think of it, so does my daughter, and my mother, and my father...hmmm.  I see the beginnings of a fine painting crew.  We will build a barn and install fences come spring.

After the inspection we headed to the bank to fill out an application for the mortgage.  The last time we bought a house was over 15 years ago.  Times, they have changed.  Two hours later, after signing away my daughter, the four cats, and seven grand kids, we had completed said application.  Jeez.  The good news is mortgage rates still remain low.  The bad news is the feds are pretty picky about appraisals.  We all know (J & I, our realtor Julie, the building inspector, the cows across the road), the price we are getting the property at is a bargain.  I'm praying that someone tells the appraiser the same thing.

Let me take you on a quick tour.

The front.

The side.

Our back deck!

Look I even have an old fashioned clothes line!

Looking southwest at our future pastures/hay field from the back of the house.

Looking southeast at future pastures.  Our property ends at the tree line.

The front "lawn."

The house from the road.

The carport and tree are the likeliest site for the future barn.

Does this look like the perfect chicken coop or what?

The view from our front porch.

I can't believe we have finally arrived at this point after looking for years.  It is giving substance to the daydreams I've conjured.  Now that I have a canvas to create from I can't wait to get started. 

D :)

Denise & Jeff's Big Adventure

Lake In The Clouds, Porcupine State Wilderness Park

 We spent seven glorious days 2 weeks ago vacationing in Michigan.  The weather was Indian Summer perfect.  We started out looking at properties in the Durand area and ended up picking up our newest feline family addition, Linus.  In between, we found a property we love in Hersey, we crossed the Mighty Mac and spent several days in the U.P., hiked the Porkies, and ended up wishing we didn't have to come back.  Every time I vacation in Michigan, it reminds me again how much I love this state. 

The colors in the central Michigan area consisted of brilliant reds, vibrant oranges, bright yellows and soft golds and seemed almost at their peak.  Interestingly enough, once we got north of Gaylord and into the U.P, the colors became muted and definitely not at their peak as you can see in the photos of Lake In The Clouds.

Though the colors weren't peak, still a beautiful view at Lake In The Clouds

We began our trip on Saturday morning September 28th, visiting two properties in the Durand area, with a realtor we've been working with.  We liked one enough to put it on our possibilities list.  From there we made a roundabout way in a big loop towards Farwell.  On the way we looked at about 10 vacant properties from Barryton and Sears, west to Big Rapids, and back northeast to Evart and Farwell.  Though we saw some suitable properties that were open and had rolling hills and vistas, we were underwhelmed.  I think we have come to the conclusion that vacant property is too expensive for us.  If we had a long period of time, say 10 years to pay off the property on a land contract before we wanted to build, it would work.  The cost of buying property however, along with building a home, barn, and fencing is out of our budget.

Saturday night we spent at our friends, R & C's cottage in Farwell.  They graciously offered us their place to use despite the fact that they weren't there.  It was the perfect "base camp" for two nights.

The R&C cottage view from their balcony.

The next day, Sunday, we met with Julie, our realtor in the Mt. Pleasant area.  We looked at seven properties with her.  I think she is exasperated with us.  She told me she can't get a handle on what type of property we're looking for.  We also did a nice big loop with her, (which she appreciated, not) going south to Remus, west to Reed City, stopping in Hersey, Evart and ending back in Farwell.  We found a 25 acre parcel in Hersey we fell in love with.  It has a huge ranch house and a big light filled barn both built in 2007.  Finally something that was built prior to 1930!  I will post about the quest for this property later, but for now here is a sneak peak.

View of property looking southwest from the front of the house.

View of the barn and the house from the back of the property.

We spent Sunday evening at the R&C hacienda and left there Monday morning for the U.P.
We ate lunch in Mackinaw City, then crossed over the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula.

The Mighty Mac!

Prior to crossing the bridge we spent some time taking pictures at a park located under the bridge where the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, a Michigan Welcome Center and Fort Colonial Michlimackinac are located.

I took a picture of Hannah on this same rock 17 years ago.  So I had Jeff assume the same pose.  It is one of my favorite pictures of Hannah and is framed and sits on our headboard in our bedroom.

The "Crossing."

Our first stop after the bridge was Seney National Wildlife Refuge.  We have stopped there before and love the quiet serenity.  It was an opportunity to get out and hike.  Glad we were there on Monday because it closed on Tuesday due to the government shutdown.

Seney is a great place to view birds if you're a birder.

Seney has a Marshland Wildlife Drive that allows you to circle a part of the refuge in your car.

It was a cool breezy very brisk day but we enjoyed the chance to walk and encountered no other people on our hike.  From Seney we headed Northwest to Marquette.

Jeff has fallen in love with the city of Marquette and if it wasn't so far away from friends and family and didn't receive such large quantities of snow in the winter he would move there in a heartbeat.  It is a cosmopolitan city with restaurants, character, and views.  It is also in the middle of the giant underpopulated U.P.  It sits right on Lake Superior with hills that spill into the small bay it is located on.  In a strange twist of coincidences, our friend Corrine (of the R&C cottage) was there for business Tuesday evening.  We had the pleasure of having dinner with her 400 miles from home.

We spent Tuesday morning walking on the paved Marquette Bike Trail which followed the shoreline.  It brought us to a long sandy white public beach and took us past the town harbor. Then we found an awesome Mexican fast food grill for lunch called the Border Grill, where we inhaled the best tasting vegetarian burritos.  We were wishing there were Border Grills down in our neck of the woods.

A picturesque lighthouse we encountered on our walk.

Jeff walking the Marquette public beach.

The marina with the large iron ore loading dock dominating the background.

The Iron Ore Loading Dock is a Marquette landmark.  This one is no longer being used.  A trestle used to connect to it.  The iron ore would be loaded into train trolleys and lined up on the dock.  Large freight ships would dock and the ore would be loaded onto the ships by way of the chutes, which are located along the sides of the dock.  There is an active loading dock north of town which we drove by.  Quite fascinating.

The dock towers over the shoreline, stretching 150 feet into the stratosphere (by my inaccurate calculations).

The structures protruding off the side of the dock at an angle are the chutes which are currently retracted.

After lunch we drove north of town to Sugar Loaf Mountain where we hiked a fairly steep "hill" to the top where we had the best 360 degree views of the trip.  The day was warm, mid 70's and sunny so we worked up a healthy sweat.  It was worth every drop.

Looking northeast towards Superior's endless horizon.

Looking southeast towards Presque Isle

Looking south towards Marquette.  The dome is Northern Michigan University's Football Stadium and is the world's largest wooden dome.

Hold it steady!

The views were spectacular and the day's weather was cooperative.  From Sugar Loaf we headed back towards Marquette and Presque Isle Park.  Presque Isle is a small peninsula northeast of Marquette.  There is a road that makes a loop around the outer perimeter of the "island".  At the northern end of the isle we stopped and spent some time walking around the Black Rocks.

The black cliffs and rocks at the north end of the isle.

The water was crystal clear.

Looking towards a small inlet which we ended up climbing over the rocks to get to.

The beach was covered in water worn pebbles and stones.

After our hike up Sugar Loaf I decided to cool my feet off.  The water did the job quite well.  I could only stand in the clear cold stuff for a minute before my feet started to go numb.

It amazes me the treasures we have here in Michigan.  Such rugged and spectacular beauty.  All of it within the city limits of Marquette.

From Presque Isle we headed back to the hotel where we met up with Corrine later that evening for dinner. 

Local Marquette waterfalls we stopped by on our way back to the hotel.

A view through an old water viaduct.  The new water viaduct is to the right.

Wednesday found us back on the road headed due west to Porcupine Mountains State Park.
I was determined to go to Lake In The Clouds though we had to drive another 140 miles to do it.
Jeff had tried to get reservations at the only motel in the area but it was booked full.  We knew we were going to have to drive a ways to find a place to spend Wednesday night.  In the meantime we got to enjoy the "Porkies."

One more view of the lake.

The west view from the lake lookout.

The drive was worth the view.

We decided since we had driven all this way we would take advantage of the wilderness and beauty surrounding us and take a hike.  We choose the Overlook Trail.  It was supposed to be 2.7 miles. "This popular loop offers scenic views and magnificent old-growth hardwoods. Hiker will encounter steep uphill and downhill trail sections on this route."  In all our years of hiking park trails never have we traveled such a poor trail.  The rocks and roots were a hazard to walk on and we didn't dare look up to enjoy what we were walking by for fear of tripping.  There were two overlooks that were disappointing at best.  The steep uphill and downhill trail sections were almost vertical and I ended up on my rear end once, thankful to have landed there instead of on my head at the bottom of the hill.

Jeff heading down the vertical incline.

It took us twice as long to hike the trail than we thought it would.  We kept on wondering if we had wandered off the trail. Easy to do since it didn't appear to be well traveled (duh!) and with fallen leaves it was easy to go astray.  When we finally saw the trail head and our car we ran for it, jumped in and sped away as fast as Jeff could push the speed limit.  Not the best hiking experience we've ever had.

It now being late afternoon, we had to find a place to spend the night.  We were a long ways away from a decent town with a hotel.  We decided to stay in Ironwood, a good hour plus drive away.  We ended up at a decent motel in Ironwood and had dinner at the local old style Italian restaurant.  

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Escanaba where we hoped to find a good trail to hike. That was largely unsuccessful, so instead we decided to visit a gem of a state park called Fayette Historic State Park.

This park was created to preserve the once thriving town of Fayette, located on Big Bay De Noc off Lake Michigan.  It was once a bustling iron smelting company town in 1880.  There are the remains of the smelting factory and several buildings, including the town hotel, the iron company manager's house and small homes the workers and business owners lived in.  It has it's own miniature harbor with limestone cliffs protecting it one side.
We were blessed with no rain and few tourists.  It was serene and peaceful and a great way to spend our afternoon, wandering the roads peeking in the building windows and imagining what the town must have been like 130 years ago.  If you are ever in the area and enjoy history it is worth stopping by.

Fayette's little harbor with the limestone cliffs protecting it.

The iron smelting factory from across the harbor.

The limestone cliffs were quite impressive.

The old Fayette road leading towards the past?

The iron company manager's house.  The nicest in town.

Looking down at Fayette from the limestone cliffs on the other side of the harbor.

Fayette had the perfect picturesque location protected from the larger bay and Lake Michigan.

 From Fayette we headed east to Manistique where we spent the night.  We ate dinner at the Three Mile Supper Club.  The fresh whitefish was good.  The salad bar okay and the decor right out of the pages of an up north 70's cabin with pine paneling and utilitarian tables and chairs. The poor waitress, (note the singular), worked the whole floor by herself and the bar.  She hustled to accommodate the 10 plus tables but had a hard time keeping up.  Thankfully we were in no big hurry.

Friday morning found us heading east again to Curtis, where we had a date at Spinner's End Farm, to pick up our little kitty monster, Linus.  We met Sherry and had a quick tour of her farm and all the animals.  She has sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats, kittens, chickens, and ducks.  She has her hands full!  It was nice to meet her and the animals.  Not only did we walk away with a kitten but Sherry gifted us with a jar of their own maple syrup.  Thanks again Sherry! I wish I had thought to take a picture or two.  :(

Linus turns out is a pretty good traveler.  He spent most of the time perched on Jeff's or my lap.

The final leg of our trip was spent viewing again the Hersey property we fell in love with the at the beginning of our trip.  Our friend and "house advisor" Ray, toured the property with us and helped us put into perspective the costs that would be involved to bring the house up to livable standards.  It was built by the Amish and had no upstairs kitchen nor hvac. Sadly, after much contemplation we decided the cost to obtain the property and then bring it up to "snuff" was going to be over our budget and would probably not appraise for the amount of money needed to finance the project.

All is not lost, however, because Jeff and I spent the following Sunday viewing a property we had looked at back in July.  The price had been lowered and it seemed like it would be worth revisiting.  Long story short we made an offer and have come to an agreeable price with the sellers.  This Friday, the 25th, we will be meeting with the home inspector and the bank.  More information and pictures to follow.  Basically it looks like we bought the farm!  What a way to end on a high note, huh?

D:)