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[VAN DELL JORDAN <vdjor AT yahoo.com>]

Don, 
Glad to hear from you.  Sure has been an exciting(?) year for you.  Thanks 
for keeping the rest of us inspired.
Van Dell


--- On Wed, 12/22/10, Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net> wrote:

> From: Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Homestead] Update
> To: Homestead_Friends AT yahoogroups.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org, 
> brierpatch AT yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 8:55 AM
> I thought as the end of the year
> approaches I would update everyone.  It has been a very
> busy year as most of you know, very busy indeed.  The
> first three months were spent going though stuff and
> searching the Internet for a place in Missouri.  My
> wife was shoved into retirement by he school district so she
> had that to deal with.
> 
> In early April we took a trip to Missouri where I have
> spent several summers meeting people and getting to know the
> area.  We looked at several places within our very
> narrow price range but came away disappointed every
> time.  It was either junk or over priced.  Then
> when we were getting ready to leave a place came available,
> a place I knew about and had discussed before.  It was
> a little more than I wanted to spend but it had almost
> everything else we wanted.  So we agreed to buy it and
> set things in motion.  A week later he backed out.
> 
> So, back to the Internet searches and making plans to come
> back when school was out to search some more.  While
> looking an interesting place popped up in the
> listings.  It had been way out of my price range which
> is why I had not noticed it before.  The owner is ill
> and wanted to settle things so dropped the price by
> S40K.  I had some friends take a look and their comment
> was "If you don't buy it we will!"  They sent pictures
> and descriptions and we liked what we saw.  We made the
> necessary dance moves and the place was on hold until I
> could come out to see it.
> 
> I flew into Springfield in early May and drove down to see
> the place.  It was everything we wanted, location,
> house size, sewing room, shop, etc.  The price was a
> little more than the place we almost bought but the
> difference was less than what we would have had to spend to
> get that one to where we wanted it.  I signed papers,
> give them money and returned home to get ready for the
> move.
> 
> Here are pictures of the place:
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Ozark%20house/
> 
> The next month was busier than any before.  We had to
> put a house on the market, I had to sort through storage and
> load stuff, the house had to be packed and my wife had to
> finish out the year and do all the retirement stuff. 
> By mid June the house sold for more than was owed, we had
> everything packed, a friend flew out from Missouri and drove
> my pickup with a trailer to the new place.  We loaded
> two U-Haul trucks and my tandem trailer and headed
> east.  We closed on June 21 and moved in.
> 
> Here is the move:
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Ozark%20house/moving.html
> 
> In early August I flew back to California to bring back my
> little pickup and a 20 KW back up generator a friend sold
> me.  It was a real bargain, well worth hauling
> back.  I paid what a home center 7KW unit would have
> cost.  So far I have not had a chance to get it hooked
> up.
> 
> It is 44 mostly wooded acres.  About 5 acres are
> cleared around the house and a field between two
> creeks.  I have two seasonal streams that flood and
> close the driveway.  There is a small year round
> spring.  There is the house, a fairly new double wide
> with an addition with a basement under.  The garage is
> 24 by 40 with the back half a finished space that is the
> sewing room.  The shop is 32 by 24 with a concrete
> floor and a 32 by 16 wing.  A machinery shed is 34 by
> 16.  For a very good price the previous owner sold me
> his compact tractor, a low hour 29 hp Case IH DX29 with a
> loader.  Several implements came with the tractor.
> 
> Since then I have mowed, disked, and planted the cleared
> space in Deer feed plots.  I set up a temporary shop in
> the garage then built a cabinet, shelves, spice racks,
> washing machine bases, work benches, shop shelves.  I
> have wired motion detector lights to replace a dawn to dusk
> light, wired the garage with a new 20 Amp circuit and new
> lights, put in a propane line to the laundry room, cleaned
> out several loads of the previous owners stuff, added a new
> 20 amp circuit to the shop, built and insulated one wall of
> the shop, cut a space for the garden, cleaned up, mowed too
> much grass, brush hogged places without trees, had a minor
> battle with a neighbor,  watched while the place was
> surveyed at no cost to me, watched as my south boundary
> moved south by 33 feet to cut a neighbors newly constructed
> shed in half, and a bunch of other stuff in between.
> 
> A very busy year.  You can look back on my journal:
> July
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/July%2010/July.html
> 
> August
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/August%2010/August.html
> 
> September
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/September%2010/September.html
> 
> October
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/October%2010/October.html
> 
> November
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/November%2010/November.html
> 
> And so far this month
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
> 
> -- Don Bowen       
>    KI6DIU
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
> 
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