# 527 - Finalizing Floorplan Details & Striving for Balance

Sgt. Dave finally moved the old fire-pit out of view. Thank God!

Living in the country means that each aspect of daily life must be considered because each decision impacts the view and appearance of the acreage.

After a summer of good rain and lots of mowing, the St. Augustine grass is growing nicely on part of the acreage.

Howdy and Gracie are two peas in a pod. They play several times a day, chasing each other around trees, cars, and other obstacles. They bring me a lot of laughter. Gracie has learned to play ball, her own way. She catches the ball and runs with it, making Howdy run after her. It's quite entertaining.

Liyla loves to sit in the sun and let her bones get some warmth; she's our old girl and is always smiling.

One of the goals that Sgt. Dave has been tackling lately is to burn the dead trees to the ground so that they don't fall on anyone and cause potential harm and/or death. We call these dead, towering trees, "Widow Makers." Now, he's taken down about three massive trees.

I also have something else that is interesting...my new/old Trooper. This Trooper had once belonged to my sister, but now it is mine. In our family, we seem to keep our old vehicles in the family. This Trooper has been an amazing vehicle. She's an oldie, but a goodie. And...she looks good out here too.

The good news with the construction process is that we are finally making progress with our floorplan. All the details can be overwhelming, but the house, I believe, is going to be amazing.

We are having to get every single thing in order for the construction process because our builder, once he begins, will go fairly fast. His crew is one of those that works like crazy from sun-up to sun-down on each project to get the shell of the house finished very quickly. Once that is finished, we can begin pulling it all together, to make this place our new home.

Once we get the house built, I will finally be able to get all of our belongings out of storage that had been packed after we sold our last house.

I am trying to be patient for just a little while longer. Meanwhile, I also enjoy my chickens. I believe we are down to 19 chickens. They mostly stay safe in their chicken run, but they do free-range three days out of the week, minimum. However, it is usually at the cost of one of the chickens disappearing, I believe because of a hawk.

And, there are always reasons to go to Houston, but each time I go, it is confirmed to be a wise decision that we moved from the big city. The congestion of people and traffic, the bad smells and the lack of personal involvement that you enjoy in the country keeps me glad about going back home to the country. But, the city is beautiful, from a distance.

Life has some great balance, but I could strive for more. Thank goodness we have the big city with its Sushi bars to balance life in the country. Sushi always puts things into perspective with helping me enjoy visiting the city.

Sushi in the country...not so sure I'm comfortable with that idea, not just yet.

# 476 - Old and New Country Sights

Moving out of the Greater Houston area to the country has been quite a culture change. Even though Houston is approximately one and half hours away, we are far enough away to make life much more peaceful and very different.

Downtown Livingston has a great mix of old and new buildings, both retaining historic architecture. I must say that the historic architectural committee in town is doing their job.

One building I love is the Polk County Courthouse.

Here is another building that has external metal beam supports that have been painted to blend in with the surroundings. It is nice that the construction of the beams and installation were thoughtful enough to make the beams interesting.

 

To be honest, it has always been a dream of mine to own one of these historically rich buildings in the heart of town, to run some sort of business at ground level and to live above in loft-style accommodations, or to at least have a sleep over pad ready at all times. It would be nice to have a place in the middle of it all, but not on the Downtown Houston congested level.

 

And let's be blunt, in a major metropolitan area, you have freaks on the street. In the downtown center of a country town...not so much.

 

 

Here are a row of buildings located just behind the Polk County Courthouse that are rather new construction, but built with respect to the area's historic architecture. I love it!

 

Of course, there are huge differences between living in a large city and a small country town. Mostly, we lack an almost unending variety of restaurants and shopping. Last weekend, Shaye and I had fun going to Walmart and listening to the high school band play music outside in their effort to raise money for a trip to D.C.

 

 

Yes, we contributed. It was a HOT day and those kiddos were playing music and selling BBQ. 

 

Even though we don't have big city conveniences, our small town does have a nice Walmart, an HEB, Brookshire Bros., Lowe's, Sonic, El Burrito, Taco Bell, MacDonald's, Jack in the Box, Whataburger, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars' Pizza, Bodacious BBQ, Joe's Italian, a CVS, Payless Shoes, Radio Shack, Dollar Tree, and a few other places we've not yet tried that makes life easier.

 

However, out of all the stores available in Livingston, I am very grateful to have a Palais Royal here in town! They city girl in me clings to that Palais Royal in the hopes that a few more nice restaurants and stores will eventually make their way around this area. Oh yes, we do have an Outlet Mall that I've not yet visited. 

 

The one Southern restaurant with a drive-through that we really miss is Dairy Queen. Obviously, there was a Dairy Queen near the center of town, once upon a time, but it appears to have been set too far back to benefit from townies needing a bite to eat.

 

 

I sure could go for a Blizzard.

 

Well, I am about to sign off. But, I want everyone to know that we've gone from such hot days, mostly in the high 90's to even about 100 degrees, to much more tolerant weather. Saturday, it felt so great that I used the hand-hoe to dig a few rows in my brand new vegetable garden, and I planted lettuce and broccoli. Sunday, I'll dig a few more rows and get some more seeds in the ground for a Fall harvest. Tonight, it's already 62 degrees and tomorrow should be in the 80's again. Heaven for Southerners.

 

The past few days have been spent listening to the rain constantly pour down upon us to give our acreage a good soaking. Since we're still "living in between" with our temporary residence being an RV as we prep the land for home-building, I found it very nice to lay back and hear the rain tap, tap, tap on the roof of the RV. Sometimes, the best things in life come from simplicity.

 

 

We really needed this kind of rain, but I didn't like being in a Tornado Watch yesterday. I've already lived in a house hit by a tornado; it's a scary event. Thank God, no tornadoes came our way.

 



 

Life holds such beauty, and I gladly take time to notice it and savor it. Thank you Lord for loaning this piece of dirt to me! I hope 2014 will find a new home waiting for us to bounce new memories off the walls.

 

 

# 472 - Country-Life is Marvelous

Over three months ago, we moved from the Greater Houston area to take a wild chance with finally moving onto the acreage we've owned since our kids were younger.

To be honest, many of our family and friends believed we were nuts for leaving big city boundaries.

Many of them hoped we would sell the big house and buy a smaller house to suit the needs of our empty-nester status. However, we felt much too young to embrace hefty life-reduction changes. Heck, society is full of people who live longer and who enjoy being in nature instead of being stuck in a residence on a city corner block.

I had more than a few family and friends suggest we "forget" about our crazy dream of moving to a rural area.

Well, the craziness continued. We sold the two-story monstrosity, bought an RV, and moved to our rural property so we could make preparations to build a country cabin.

It has been WONDERFUL and challenging!

One thing is for sure, the dogs love the wide open spaces. And on a recent road trip between our country home to see our oldest daughter, Heather, I had this experience with my Aussie, Howdy, as we stopped for food. See the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8FdK18yGtc&feature=share&list=UUoaSSiZFXLv3-gLeGBvODvQ

As for moving to the country full-time, the challenges have been worth it. Living in the country is worth every step through the dirt. It's worth the many weeks we lived without electricity and were powered by gas generator. It's worth the transition that includes living in an RV as we prepare to build a home without wheels.

When we must leave to go elsewhere, it's nice to come back to this piece of earth because it feels as if we are HOME. It goes to prove, home is not a structure, it is the place where the heart resides.

Between the economy spiraling downward and the deepening issues with disastrous events potentially targeting or threatening our largest cities, we decided to get out while we could. If it wasn't necessary, then we were still living a life in the country that was our preferred environment.

Of course, we had owned acreage for many years. Plus, I grew up with a family who always had property in the country or a country home of some sort. My grandmother had a "fish-camp" located a short distance from our rural acreage, so the Big Thicket area has always been in my blood, from birth.

Our move to the country felt natural, yet the change from city life to country life requires some trade-offs. A major difference we noticed, right away, was the inability to ORDER hot and fresh PIZZA for delivery to the front door.

Augh!!

But, the opportunity to wake up and to walk outside in the morning, in privacy, in the midst of nature's business...to hear the birds warbling, to see the trees swaying and to feel the dry brush crunching beneath my feet...it is marvelous.

Yes, marvelous.

# 459 - Celebrating Country Life!

The deck building process exposed a visitor, a Black Widow.

My husband tried to hold it still for a few shots. I found it oddly beautiful. After the photo session, he let it go in the woods.

Lions, tigers and bears. Well, not quite. However, we do have cougars, spiders and snakes. And, the bears are in these woods again because of a re-introduction plan that has now prompted official sightings in the area. Black bears.

For now, I am adding Black Widow spiders to my list of creatures and insects that city-life did not expose us to quite as much.

Also, the deck construction is finished. We are still going to add lattice to it, but this beauty is wonderful to step out onto instead of cinderblocks and indoor/outdoor carpeting that quickly gets clogged with DIRT GALORE.

Here is a photo, at night, of my mother-in-law standing on the deck.

I will be landscaping around the deck, so stay tuned. Of course, Beaker, the chicken missing the top beak, has already found her way to the top of the deck, but that will soon be off limits with the finishing touches that will be put onto the deck.

My huge picnic table fits on the deck and we certainly enjoy sitting outside while soaking in the peaceful view and country sounds.

Another great bit of news today that we received had been our electric bill. First of all, at this time of year, we would be getting an electric bill at the big city house that would be at least around $400.00 because of the days on end that were in the high 90's and right at 100 degrees.

The chickens are hanging out beneath the RV.

Here in the RV, we are in the shade for part of the day, but the hot days find the air-conditioning unit in the RV to run non-stop, so we were DREADING the moment the electric bill arrived.

You can imagine our high-five celebration as we opened the bill to discover the charge for a HOT month in Texas to be approximately $140.00! So, we are paying more for gas and commuting to Downtown Houston on a daily basis, but the overall break from "big house" bills is very nice.

It's so nice to have affordable electricity with this country electric co-op.

It's so nice to not be air-conditioning nearly 3,000 square feet of house.

It's so nice to be able to step out my front door and be in the midst of nature.

It's so nice to no longer share a front curb on a street without adequate parking space.

It's so nice to live on land that has trees instead of in a development that is just over ten years old and struggling to grow trees because the developer bull-dozed everything before construction began.

It's so nice to not hear police sirens throughout the night, every night.

And, it's so nice to see the beauty in nature, even if it includes a Black Widow every now and then.

# 454 - Future Country Workshop Needs Work

Years ago, Sgt. Dave began a foundation for a structure and it has sat on this land for so long, waiting to be finished.

We live here in the country now, so this structure is getting attention.

All of the growth through the boards, the debris that had been left in the middle of the mess...it had become a site of wreckage.

However, this area became my mother-in-law's mission to tackle.

Day by day she worked on this area and pulled away the junk for the trash pile, then she cleaned out the de-composing parts of nature and also tried to clear out as many of the stubborn roots as she could pull out. And she even confronted one snake in the process.

Now, it's looking pretty darn good and getting ready for more wood to be added so that a framed wall with a roof might be put into place. Then, Sgt. Dave can bring his workshop tools to the land and these tools will provide him with the ability to get things accomplished. I can hear the table saw right now!

And, we specifically put these two structures close together so we could benefit from their proximity, keeping us from having to walk across the land to do this or that. Also, if Sgt. Dave wanted to put in a small bathroom area with toilet and shower, the septic is close by, so this would be possible.

For you to gauge the size of the structures, the metal shed is 10x14. I'm not sure the size of the unfinished workshop, but it will be roomy enough to get us started. Sgt. Dave has never had his own workshop, just for his woodworking, so this will be nice.

And now I understand the reason so many people with acreage have multiple buildings.

These two structures have become part of our backyard. Over the next couple of months, I guess we will see what else pops up. I think a faux outhouse will be another structure high on the list to complete because it will hold the daily garden tools and free the utility shed from having such things tracked and inside. All the shovels, the hoe, the rakes and the tiller can be put inside the outhouse, saving valuable space in the utility shed for other items.

And here is an faux outhouse we have recently seen here in Livingston. It's a great piece of inspiration.

Day by day, things are changing around here. It's a monumental task we've taken on, especially on our tight budget, but we are making headway. Each week, I am amazed at how much more progress we're making.

Since this past week has been the hottest June on record here in our part of Texas, we have definitely been slowed down because of the oppressive heat. I saw that Death Valley reached temperatures of 124 degrees this past week. I think that is an area of our country I'd prefer to live under-ground.

Let's just say that our RV knows the meaning of "Siesta-time." Let's hope we can get through July and August! The past few days have hovered around 100 degrees with a "feels like" 104 temperature. However, we have a weather forecast or next week that will be in low 90's and our night's will be right at 70's. That will be NICE. Perhaps we will be able to move about without the pours of our skin becoming a faucet.

And I am definitely living in the country...this is what it is all about.

# 453 - The Country - My Kitchen Change

Come along for the tour!

Over the next year, we will be working toward preparing the land to build a country cabin...a cabin or cottage will be our next home. In the meantime, we are living in our temporary home, an RV that's 33 feet long, with two slide-outs.

Going from a very large home to an RV has been quite a transition. I had wondered how I would feel about leaving my large kitchen in the house we just sold...that island kitchen was very spacious.

 

 

However, our RV is cozy. In fact, I love my RV kitchen, which is located on the front end of the RV.

There's room to move around, ample drawer and deep cabinetry. There's also space available over the upper cabinets and that's where we keep the foil, lunch-kits, lap trays, and such.

 The makers of this RV used ingenuity when they made the kitchen to extend over the trailer/tongue area to give loads of cabinetry and counter-space that is not usually found in a 33-foot RV.

This part of the countertop actually has an overhang that allows for two bar stools to be pushed underneath. I use the area underneath for a three-tier shoe holder. No shoes to be worn inside! Well, except by guests.

My little kitchen is enjoyable. Everything is carefully designed to be within an arm's reach. And that skillet I am using below is a massive sized skillet, I believe 17 inches across, but it is one of my favorites.

Isn't this entire adventure ridiculously funny? Can you believe we made a massive leap from city living in the Greater Houston area that has over 2,400 people per square mile to the country in an area that has, on average, 43 people per square mile?

We are nuts! We're making huge sacrifices, but we know it will be worth it. In fact, tonight I stood outside listening to the frogs, crickets and spied some lightening bugs at the edge of the forest, and I CAN FEEL the many reasons we're going through all this hardship.

If you love nature and you love having some space around you, then you understand. If you like the sound of birds chirping when you walk outside instead of the sound of traffic, then you understand. If you like to look out your window and see greenery as your landscape instead of man-made structures, vehicles and concrete, then you understand. If you'd like to see more of our society make a return to traditional practices, such as growing and raising table food, then you understand what we are trying to do out here in the country.

The way I look at it, at least we are providing ONE home on our side of the family that has beautiful acreage with a spring-fed creek and lake to play in and we have woods to explore...there's room to roam and space to enjoy. And we can actually see the stars at night.

Our land continues to go back, as far as those trees in
the distance and beyond. Howdy stands there, he
wants to go back there, but it's not always safe.
That's rattlesnake and Cottonmouth zone.

Such beauty is still available. Treasure it...I am sure you understand what we are trying to do out here in the country and you know the reason I am so darn happy with my little kitchen.

# 452 - Country Life - The Peaceful Pace

FIRST OF ALL...I do NOT have links embedded. Do not click on any links. This seems to be a BlogSpot issue, so don't click on any links in this post.

*****

Starting life on rural acreage in the country is a constant challenge, but it can be rather interesting. For example, the other day, this "what-the-heck" was driving down the road next to us.

I sure do love Texas.

 

As for moving to the country, the most immediate and important hurdles have been with our utilities. Throughout this year, we will be building a house, but for now, we must go through all the boring motions necessary to get us started with the basics.

For electricity, we started out on generator, but we had a pole installed with a meter and breaker box, then a connection was finally made by the local electrical co-op to our private pole.

For water, we have multiple water hoses connected across acres of land, from one corner of our acreage we have water from the local co-op and it is stranded by water-hoses to the RV. We've had a couple of "blow-outs" of a few water hoses, mostly the ones brought from the house we just moved from. We've definitely learned how important it is to respect high quality water hoses for such projects.

Sgt. Dave also put on a quadruple splitter to allow us to attach multiple water hoses at a junction point. The main LONG hose connection leads to back of RV, then the splitter is used so that we have another hose ready to fill the chicken's or dog's water bowls, to water plants and such, then we have another hose that is attached to the washing machine that is now located in the newly constructed shed.

Water hoses connected and running through forest to RV.

Running pipe to the RV from the main water line is not exactly an option at this point because of the terrain. We are considering the option of finishing the well that was already started on the residential side of our property. Since we are going to be looking into a well, we need all the advice we can get, it is WELCOMED. Give us our good and bad experiences, the do's and the do-not's.

As for septic, we began with a hole in the ground, but now Sgt. Dave has run PVC piping to our septic. I can tell you that going from city plumbing to a hole in the ground was an adventure in itself. To cut down on the aroma, we utilized jugs of bleach. After a septic dump, Sgt. Dave would pour some bleach into the hole and it definitely helped. However, the first time of pouring bleach into the poo-hole resulted in this major chemical bubbling/gas cloud reaction that brought about a lot of laughs as we were shocked. This moment gave us a lesson that bleach and poo porridge can be scientific.

And today we were to have an installation appointment for a phone (land-line) to be installed and to give us DSL Internet! For now, I have often hijacked Lowe's service, which is free to guests and since Lowe's is our second home, I often use it when buying supplies.

At the RV, I have been using my IPhone's "Personal Hotspot" wireless connection, which is quite expensive and limited in data usage. As soon as I exceed my data usage limits, I am charged $10 for every gig of overage. The Personal Hotspot only comes with 5 GB of usage and that goes very fast.

So, I THOUGHT I'd have a home phone and DSL today, but the crew arrived this morning, for the SECOND time, and they realized the line they need to run is more complicated than anticipated. They began burying a lot of line today.

And we're going to have to make a map of some sort to indicate all of the new utility lines we're dealing with lately.

Soon, I'll be able to get back to blogging more regularly.

Oh yes, we burn our trash. Which, I've been told will be a HUGE pain in the rear when the heat sets in and there are burn bans enforced.

We have been through a lot already since we've been out here, but it does feel great to be able to stretch our physical bodies and our minds on this acreage. There is definitely something that comes from nature that is healing to our spirits.

Living in an RV isn't easy, but it isn't so bad, either. It's cozy. I keep reminding myself that not having to clean the near 3,000 square feet of house is really nice! However, I am already yearning for cooler weather.

And a friend and I were communicating today; she lives out here as well. Her family left the same area we just moved from --- in Greater Houston --- and she said they would never go back. She said they love the "slower" pace of the country.

I have decided that instead of calling the country a place that goes at a "slower" pace that I will give my description, which is that it goes by a "peaceful pace."

Of all the utility connections that we've arranged, there has not been one line to stand in to do business. In the Houston area, it is chaos. People don't hardly look up from their keyboard; you walk in and take a number. Here, in the country, you walk in and there are five workers sitting at their desk and you are the only one needing help.

Since we are living here full-time, we finally have the opportunity to make it our mission to try as many of the local restaurants as possible. Each time we get a chance to dine out, we purposefully search for a place we've not yet tried. We will give each restaurant two chances.

We've already ruled out the "nicest" restaurant in town because the main course items are not that tasty, but the prices rival those of Houston's nicer dining establishments with most platters starting at around $17.00 per plate. So, we were disappointed, twice. It's sad when the food is so "off" that you don't even want to take home ample left-overs.

So, we were pleased to find a little Italian hole in the wall.

This week, we tried Joe's Italian Grill, and I was not sure would be good, but it was pretty decent for a small-town in Texas. I was surprised.

By the way, Italian food is my favorite food to cook, so this one is a toughie for restaurants to compete with because home-made Italian can't be beat. Joe's Italian Grill came close...the prices make it worth enjoying.

To start, the salad was tasty and the bread was great.

We then shared a platter that had fettuccine alfredo, lasagna and chicken parmisiana, which was my favorite and will be ordered again.

They are open seven days per week, until 9pm each night and on Saturday until 10pm. A bonus is their daily lunch special is $6.95. Not bad...not bad at all.

Next week, we'll try another new restaurant. There aren't many to try, so we're taking our time.

As for making headway on the acreage, it feels great to see our storage shed in place. Since it will partially serve as the laundry room, I had to make an effort to reduce the amount of dirt being tracked inside. Our acreage has great soil, but the top-coating is mostly sand and this can be maddening. You know about sand.

Years ago, we laid out several pallets of St. Augustine grass, which is starting to spread out further and further now that we are living here and keeping the lawn mowed to reduce blackberry vines. It can't spread fast enough for me.



We know that a little deck in front of the RV would be helpful; it would give us stomping ground to better shake off the dirt and to reduce the amount of sand/dirt that is tracked in the RV by us and the dogs. Using what I have available, I laid some old bricks at the RV and storage building entrance.

These are very old bricks from my mom's house
that were dug up and left in a pile for years.
My grandfather was a plumber; I think these are
sewer bricks.

Every effort is part of the LONG, tedious process of moving to the country.

My father-in-law taking a well-deserved break.

No matter where you live, we all know that this world can give us combined yukiness along with beauty, but I do love living in the country...it re-charges my soul.