It's Done!

Sorry for being incommunicado... Last Monday, after OFFF, I found out that the house was to close Oct. 7 - EEEK!

Correy and I went over to the house on Wednesday, and spent until Saturday mucking it out. We started the trip by stopping by to see Annie, who's training is coming along very nicely, and who will be coming home next week. Since that was later in the afternoon, when we got to the house, we (Correy) made a plan of attack - I can hear Amy snickering...

 My neighbors allowed us to hook into their water via a series of hoses so we could flush toilets and wash hands, etc. Over the next 3 days, with no electricity, we worked from can see to can't see, taking 4 or 5 loads of crap to the dump (I lost count). To put it in perspective, I lived there for 5 years, all but the last one in a lot of pain from very bad knees.  Not much got done... at all. 

After filling the sheep trailer (6 x 10 x 4) with save-able stuff, I arranged to exchange it for Jordan's (Annie's trainer) stock trailer to get the 16' panels home. By the time I got back to Walton with it, it had started raining - a lot. We did the Walton Wet T-shirt contest, loading it up. The house was as clean as we could get it, and my agent had told the buyer's agent since it was considered of no value, we weren't cleaning it thoroughly. We pulled out of Walton at around 5 and reached Prineville at 8:30pm, very tired and somewhat drier than when we started.

Yesterday, a whirlwind run to the valley to:

• get the last load from the house
• drop Kiri and Whoosie off at their new home
• sign papers for the house closing.

The intent was to leave Prineville by 9 am.  I think we got out of the house to take the canopy off my truck, install the stock racks (purpose will be clear later), hitch up the stock trailer to return it, load the ponies at about 9:15. Needless to say, we didn't leave as early as planned.

We got to the valley about 1:15, and delivered Kiri and Whoosie to their new home. I'm glad that I got Kiri from the stockyard where she was bound for slaughter. When it became clear that she was pregnant, I wasn't thrilled, but figured it was a new experience for me, right? Now that Whoosie is 4 months old, Correy started working with both mares (her's is a new mom, too), and Kiri was not at all pleased to be reminded that she needed to be a horse. To be fair, she's probably been shuffled around alot (which I just did, too), so she has probably learned to buffalo people to get her way. To make it clear to her that it's not ok takes physical punishment, and I have a hard time doing that. I've tried being nice, using treats as bribes, but until you physically show her you are the boss, she's not buying it. I don't need to work that hard with a horse.  She's now with a early-20's young woman who, though looking like she's a sweet young thing with firey red hair, takes no shit. They have a 5+ acre pasture that is shared with 7 alpacas, and at least one cow. There is shelter and it will be a very good place. Since the new owner is a friend of Correy's daughter, Brin, I can get updates on her progress.  If nothing else, they will keep them as pasture pets.

We left there and went into Eugene to get lunch (it was 2:30). Since it would not make sense to drive out to Walton just to turn around for my appointment to sign, I called the Escrow officer and made arrangements to go in earlier. After signing (which was kind of fun - she had handled the previous failed escrow), we went out to the house to load up.

There was some wood from 7 trees that the sheep had girdled, already cut and well seasoned, which we took for Correy's wood stove.  This was the purpose of the stock rack - a support for stacking up the wood.  We picked up 4 pallets (one can never have too many on a farm), the two hoses from last weekend, a couple of boards and cut the 20' pvc into roughly 10' lengths. There were also many more canning jars (gold, if you have them) and a bunch of sheep coats.  When we were fully loaded the truck was wallowing. After picking up Brin to give Correy some "daughter time," we picked up the previously filled and parked sheep trailer to bring it home.

After dropping Brin off in Springfield, we headed back up the mountain IN THE RAIN. We went very slowly (max 50 mph) because of the load. It was snowing on the top of Santiam pass, but just barely starting to stick on the side (the road was just wet). Once over the top and out of the clouds, we could see stars - a welcome sight.

We pulled in at 10:30 - exhausted, wobbly and ready for bed. This is what we hauled back over the mountain. 

Note the tires...

Thursday, I just wanted to veg, but I had 2 traffic plans to do by Friday, the truck and trailer to unload, and 2 loads of laundry to do! And Correy and I dragged our sorry sore butts to Yoga. After Yoga, I became a veg. To make up for it, I worked until midnight on traffic control plans (just one more plan...), and then was too tired to sleep.

The buyer of the house was supposed to be signing Thursday, with funding and closing Friday. She didn't. I lost it... She decided she had to know if she still got the forest deferral (on taxes) if she logged off the property.  First, there is not enough lumber on the deferral plot to log right now - the trees are maybe 15 years old. Second, this was not a contingency, so wtf??  She finally signed Friday, after completely pissing off the escrow officer (not a good thing, I can tell you!!). The lender had already funded the loan, so we'll close on Monday,but because the banks are closed for Columbus Day, I won't have the $$ in my pocket until Tuesday. At least there's $$... I'm very grateful for that!

The traffic control plans turned into a bigger job than I had anticipated - one job turned into 8 sheets, good for the pocket book, but really hard on the wrists.  I need to get a more ergonomic set up in the trailer to do these.  I'm meeting with the company owners, etc., on Tuesday - I've been working for them without the "Hi, welcome to the company - here's how we do things", which has been a little frustrating.  I'm looking forward to all of us being on the same page, or at least in the same book!!

There's still organizing to do, and I need to get 5 dowels for my warping reel so I can warp my loom. I hope to get that done this weekend.  It will be good to get back to weaving.