Saturday, August 27, 2011

Come On Irene

Well, we're getting ready for the hurricane to hit us tomorrow.  After the 6 day power outage when the last one hit, well, I gotta say, I'm not psyched for this one at all.  We also have a basement that requires two sump pumps, which in turn requires power, and well, if we get as much rain as we're forecasted to get...We seriously need to get a generator, it's becoming more and more necessary here in New England.  The weather is so unpredictable these days, it's disconcerting to say the least.  Perhaps in our new house, we'll try to figure out something smaller solar so that at least we can power the absolute necessary on days when the power goes out.  We do have a well pump, sump pumps that need to run, a furnace when that's needed and a freezer full of hundreds of dollars worth of our hard-gotten food.  Yes, we need some alternative form of power for those harsh days.

I just went out to the garden to harvest the last of the tomatoes.  Some of them are still green, but they will ripen off the vine, so it's all good.  We're forecast for up to 70mph gusts and I'm thinking the delicate romas, which barely cling to the vine as it is, will be scattered to the four winds if I leave them out there.  So, today will be some prep for me for this storm.  I'm going to clean the chicken coop out well (I do it at least once a month anyways when they are spending most of their days outside), but since they'll be trapped in there all day tomorrow, I figured I would make it nice and cozy for them to weather out the storm.  I just hope they don't pig pile in a corner and crush each other like one of the other severe thunderstorms we had.  Just praying that the coop will stay put and they will be okay.  I'll be glad to get them more permanently attached to the building at the new house.

Speaking of new house...things are slowly rolling along.  We had one last crew come out to check on whether they could get the barn done for our modest budget.  That's 5 contractors that have come out now.  One could do it for our budget, but not until February (it's got to be done before closing, no options there because of the mortgage company requirements), the other 3 said nope, can't do it for that price.  Then my realtor found a crew of 3 guys who are qualified and hungry and said they could do it for the allotted cash.  Their written proposal should be coming in to the sellers today, so we'll be making the final decision on the barn by the end of the weekend.  We're running out of time so we've got to get the decision made now.   I never thought one old barn could cause so much worry and stress. 

Our realtor, who is also a very good friend of our family's, has been utterly and completely AMAZING through this entire process.  He's renovated old homes, barns and carriage sheds and his knowledge has been a God-send.  And he's been there for us 150% of the way through this whole process.  Just amazing.  We've had other realtors that were horrible in the buying and selling of past homes, he is by far and away , the best.  We are blessed to have him on the journey with us, someone is looking out for us with his guiding hand for sure. 

So, I'll update more on the progress with the house as time goes on. Today is the septic inspection, another check written out for more inspections and such.  We've got an appraisal to schedule as well, which will be another large check, and we've paid for the home inspection already also.  I find it so amazing (and truthfully absurd) the amount of money you have to pay out before you even sign on the dotted line, then all the closing costs and then proceed to hand them the hard earned down payment.  Wow, oh wow, thousands and thousands of dollars before you even get to the down payment.

Well, if the power's out, I may not be back for a bit.  Hopefully in the pleasantness of summer it wouldn't take the power crews as long to get it back on, but depends on the tree damage I guess.  Stay safe everyone! 

Riding out the storm, ~Peacemom 

2 comments:

Candace said...

Stay safe! Hopefully we won't lose power!

Jennifer said...

Be safe! Fingers crossed for your potential new pad. :)