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Too late for chicks this year, or probably any animals. Luckily we have the greenhouse-pretty sure I can still do fall/winter crops. Outside remodeling will probably have to wait until next year. Main and only goal will be electric. Whatever works out after that will be bonuses now! We are just happy appraisal is in and can move forward!! We are not counting on anything as being done until deed is in our hand at this point!

Mastiffs on the farm; We are a English Bulldog family, most of our family has been in the Marine Corps. Our 1st bully was the mascot for Todd's tank division. We've had many and each loss was harder than the last. When Tank started going on the downhill road, we began talking about getting a puppy to hopefully carry on his wonderful demeanor. We'd always admired English Mastiffs, but never thought we had the room for the great beasts. The more we had learned, we realized we didn't need any more room, but we had always wanted a farm of dogs anyway...... We couldn't top Tank, he was too loved and would just be too missed for our hearts to go thru another. It was time for a change. That year we decided to look for real, real for a farm, and I got a Mastiff for Todd's birthday present. We hoped he would perk Tank up a little and Tank could "raise it" with his traits; loving, sweet, calm (and lazy). Tank became Grandpa and Huckleberry LOVED him! Tank not so much. He did have more energy at first, he would play with the pup and then snip at him until he was ready for his nap. (his/both/either!) Tanker taught Huck all of life's lessons- stay out of the pool, go potty when told, stay in the yard, how to look sad and get treats - he was a wonderful Grandpa! Tank lasted another 6 months, he was very old for Bulldogs and he had had a great life. Huckleberry missed him so much, we decided to get a female mastiff for his new bestie. Broom Hilda Hun "Hildy Hun" was my Christmas present and now a part of our future herd of our farm. Todd and I swapped dogs, Hildy was clearly his right from the the moment they locked eyes - it had been the same for him and Tanker - and I have a condition that Huck somehow became aware of and had became my shadow/protector. Our Mastiff farm is in the making, buying the farm. Going from 2 acres to 30 acres with plenty of room for them to roam. Bought the "made for tv" screen door that parts as they go out and in as they like. I know it's cheesy, and probably doesn't work properly, but I have dreamed of the day I could install this $14.99 product!!! It represents acreage and freedom and lots of mastiffs! I want a herd of mastiffs! No cows or horses - well some people think they are horses and continually ask if we ride Huckleberry - no, by the way. Other owners warned us "you won't be able to stop at just one"! I will settle for a small herd, maybe 5 or 6. And I want them NOW, so they all grow up together. Not sure how that is going to happen with the cost of these beasts and putting in electric, new water lines-I might have to choose one or the other-do we really need electric? Our next one comes in 4 days. Magdolna "big nose Kate" Holiday. She is gorgeous!!! I will share pics once she is home, hopefully at the farm..................

Nope. Moving the close another 2 days, everyone neglected to notice the comment by the appraiser; "Farm does not have utilities, should I continue?" How, when, what?????? That was one of the main reasons he was there!!! Sold our house today, we are now homeless. The moving truck was almost a thousand dollars and we only have it for 3 days, it is sitting filled with our possessions with nowhere to go. Family and friends took off work to help with the move. Our buyers already have their pods sitting at the end of our driveway, Took measurements and made their plans to enlarge our 60's home (with tiny bedrooms) with a large master en suite. They have sold their home in meantime and THEIR buyers are almost done with loan process. Our sellers have already pretty much moved into their new home. How has everyone else sold/bought/sold/bought before us who started it all? Everyone is waiting on us. And waiting, and waiting........ *******IMPORTANT UPDATE************************ (I feel like a newscaster!) The appraisal is in-almost 2 months from the day we offered for the farm and a month from original due date of the appraisal. NOW to closing?!?!?!

We are finally done with all the paperwork, just waiting on the appraisal. Already warned it will come back low because it's considered undeveloped land......(again, how is 2 homes, 2 barns, a greenhouse and 2 sheds considered undeveloped land?!?!?! The closing date has already been pushed back once, much to the owners of said farms consternation. Everything has taken twice as long with it being an Amish Farm. It's going on 2 months now, and the couple who bought our house 2 weeks ago is already done and waiting to close when we do. I called the bank, it's been over a week, they are still waiting for it to come back. Something about the greenhouse and floodplain. One, the floodplain is in the next field over, and 2, it's a greenhouse, how much is it really going to hurt??? (we had already established ourselves, it was not low enough to be a bother.) She was really hoping they would have by end of the month, but it was going to be close. I guess we could push closing back by 5 days, the guys working on the sewer lines aren't quite done yet. "That would be a relief, I didn't think we we're going to make it" Shouldn't she have started this conversation with that information!!! Now we have 5 days to move. In hindsight, it would have been better to just move everything into a storage rental. But our realtor wanted to keep the furniture and decor up for staging. She said "men would drool over Todd's shop and "don't change a thing"! So it was really just moving the clutter and personal items out and we didn't have that many boxes to warrant it. No-one predicted the house would have 61 showings in 3 days or we would accept an offer from that first weekend! We are not worried about the house now, but the shop. 20 plus years of residential and commercial flooring installation, our specialty rug design and all of the many, many, many tools Todd has for woodworking has contributed to a small factory in his shop. He didn't take time off yet for the move, so he is still using them up until we (finally) close. I'm pretty sure we will need a factory's worth of employees to move it in 5 days..... Next installment: Closing?!?!? and the move to a Amish Farm.

We asked where the door to the basement was, (the listing said house with full basement) "this is the basement, they were planning on building up, but never got to it." Okay, we don't really need a basement. Redesigning a concrete block rectangle into a rustic farmhouse on the other hand might be a bit of a stretch for us though. Now the shop across the street is an attractive house, albeit the horse barn attached is a little too, too country for my taste! So the concrete rectangle it is. The setting is lovely, set back from the road and nestled against the base of the mountain of pines. Not a lot of light coming in though when you've got a mountain right behind the back of the house, and basement sized windows. The second level would have had an awesome view! And that would explain the pipes running across the ceiling. Smallest pipes I have ever seen, and why water is a trickle coming out of faucets. There is a water tank, but it's filled from the hand crank across the road. It can be heated-from the wood burning contraption in the mudroom- which even our Amish knowledgeable inspector has never seen. And the water tank is in the grand kid's bedroom. Doesn't quite fit in with the camping theme I was planning! Pantry and Fruit cellar; Pantry is there, can't find cellar. The pantry is both. I've only ever heard of a root cellar, which is half underground-obviously fruit cellars are in the pantry! At least we have gas, a new gas stove is in the corner behind the wood burning stove. "Nope. they rigged up a way to insert a gas canister to run the stove." The wood burning stove is the actual stove... and furnace. It's the middle of summer, we are sure we can get electric for heat and cooking by fall. The "electric at the road"-not actually this road-2 roads down. Those two extra roads just added another 0 behind the price of bringing it to the farm. This agent's creative licensing with his listings is amazing!!!! A call to the local electric company, "Hey, you must be buying A----'s farm," (Love it!!! That is small town!) They got me all set up and established as a member even though we didn't have deed yet. "So, when you get it, we can get right out there honey". All that's left is the appraisal, they warned me that it will be low. "Why"? It's apparently considered undeveloped land without utilities established. It has 2 houses, 2 barns, a 30 x 90 greenhouses and 2 sheds-how is that undeveloped land?????????? To be continued in Appraisal of "undeveloped land"..............

In our 2nd/3rd? week now of trying to buy a Amish farm. The offer was accepted almost right away-not much negotiating-exactly what we wanted and knew it was going to go quick. Problem is, they normally don't go on the market. They just pass to the next in the family, or go to a smaller family when they are outgrown....So banks don't know quite what to do with this "under developed" property. The house is there, but without utilities, the barn is there, but ", garage is there - falling down shed - perfect for two buggies and equipment. Nothing is normal. Assessment came back at fourth of cost, "that's normal" our Amish farm expert realtor said. WHAT!!?? But we could see the potential, would the banks, without "seeing" it? There is plenty of farm loans for new farmers - farm loans don't want to touch us, it's not commercially set up. Hhhhmmmm, they have 300 tomato plants which already have green tomatos the size of softballs, while mine are just starting to flower. They seem to be doing just fine non-commercially. Traditional banks turned their noses up at us, a Amish farm??? Turned to our trusty credit union - yes, yeah!!!! BUT..... - they have so many questions, I'm not sure we will get thru them all before our offer times out. Oh, but we can already feel ourselves there!!! This wasn't a spur of the moment decision. It was always on our retirement bucket list. Then on our long term list, then short term, then "what are we waiting for"? We live in the capitol of Ohio, we love the city but hate everything about it. The traffic, the population, the traffic, the lines, the traffic. During the showing, we met in the middle of the gravel! road, as I came from the house and Todd came from the shop across the street - yes, we will own both sides of the road; no neighbors - and unanimously announced "this is it!". "I can breathe", "You can't see another soul" we whispered excitedly. Nonchalantly, we told the realtor we would think about it. That lasted about 1 hour- halfway home we called her back "we want it!" On our second visit, still knew this was meant to be, but started realizing costs of adding utilities, and all the discrepancies of the listing and the actual farm. Next: Realities we may have overlooked on purpose; The double garage IS the falling down (but picturesque) barn with 2 spaces (buggy sized).

Designing custom fabric. Your décor influences the fabric in your room, so what do you do if you can't find the pattern you need? Custom fabrics. Your room should have multiple textures to feel complete. Softness from your fabrics: curtains, pillows and rugs. Wood and metal trimmings in your furniture, plants and art. Color thru walls, furnishings and paintings. Mirrors give you metallics and reflect the light in a room. Patterns do not necessarily need to be the same if they are in the same color family. Play with all of nature's elements -it's your room, bring in your style!

Designing a Custom Rug