I Have Property and the Moving Starts!

   Wow! My property search has been long and hard, but I finally have property! Yay! I am working on clearing it off just enough that I can start moving stuff up onto it. I will give you all a full update on all of this very soon. At the moment, I don't have Internet (not allowed to use it where I am staying) so I have to wait until I can get on WiFi somewhere to get any online time. When I do, the time really goes by fast! I will be glad when I get all moved and have Internet every day, again! For now, my focus will be on my story about this Spring's baby goat. He has been missing since early April (gotten rid of when I was gone for a day) and I want to spend my Internet time getting his story out there, in hopes that someone knows something about him and where his got off to. I WANT HIM BACK! Thank you and have a great day!

A Different Property and Another Delay

Well, things just didn't work out on that last piece of property that I had tried so hard to get. It was so very frustrating. Getting the old abandoned gas well secured and getting all the paperwork on the property updated, turned out to be such a no answer run around and hassle that the realtor finally just pulled it off of the market. So .... I was once again on the search for that just right property to move to, at an affordable for me price.

Amazingly, I found one even better! It is 8 beautiful wooded acres of wilderness with a year round creek running through one side of it. I would have been absolutely sick if I had actually closed on the other property and then saw this one.

The property had literally just been posted for sale when I saw it on an online ad. I went and looked at it and got the ball rolling as soon as I could to get under contract with it. Things appeared to be going smoothly, for the most part. I was just a few days away from closing after a month long wait, then one delay came up that ran the closing date over by a week or so. Once again, that new closing date was almost here. Then . . . . .

I got a phone call last week informing me that the abstract office had lost the work order for the abstracting process! The abstract office had never started the abstracting on my property!!!  NOOOOO!!!! They are starting it now, putting the closing date on my soon to be property, yet another month away. Dang, dang, dang.

I  don't know why this is happening. I am sure there is some reason for it... some reason that I may not even ever know, some reason that is important.... some reason for the delay to put me where I need to be, when I need to be. I don't know. I am trying very, VERY hard to be patient. But it is getting really hard! I do not relish the idea of moving in the heat of the summer, but at the moment, that is what it is looking like I am going to be doing. I will still be okay with it if I can just get moved ... period!

Please help keep the good thoughts coming on this. Thank you so much for stopping in. Have a fantastic day!

Spring Yellow!

   Daffodils are my favorite flowers of Spring! They are so bright and cheery after the cold and drab colors of Winter!

The Property Search Continues . . . .

  Searching for the right piece of property to move my farm to, once again, has turned out to be much more difficult than I had even imagined. I knew it would not be easy in the least, especially since I have ultra meager funds to acquire a piece of land with, but I never thought it would be as difficult as it has been. Oh, my, have land prices gone up!!!

Still, I did end up finding a great piece of property (5 beautiful acres of mostly flat land with a few trees and a small creek) and I have been so excited! I have been visually laying out where I wanted to put things and how I wanted to set my animals back up. I made it all the way to the point of taking out the loan and setting a tentative closing date, but then . . ..

.  . . .  some clinkers got thrown into the fan! Most of them were not so big that they couldn't be dealt with or worked around, but then the biggest clinker of them all . . . . an old, abandoned gas well was found on the property. It has to be properly secured before the sale can go forward.

I did some searching as to what all securing that old, abandoned gas well would entail. I could get lucky and it could be done very quickly and simply, but the standard shows that it could take months, even years, before it is sealed off, there are hundreds of them awaiting the same task. Then there is the possible issue of the abandoned well contaminating the ground water (might not ever be able to drill a water well), the creek, the plants, and so on. This is something to definitely do some serious pondering and research on before I close on this property.  This stinks!

I haven't given up on this beautiful property, yet, but my bid is sitting on hold at the moment, and I am going to continue to search and look at some other properties while we all wait to hear back and see how long it will take to get the abandoned well sealed off. I have found one more interesting sounding property to go look at this week. With some prayers and good thoughts, wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping in and have a great day!

Granny Annie's Farm is Coming Back!

YES! Granny Annie's Farm is coming back!

For those that have been following along with my story of how I lost my farm and home just over a year ago, I will be continuing that story at a future time. For now, though, I need to concentrate on restarting my farm and homestead in a new location. Feel free to ask any questions you have, though.

It didn't work out where I currently am (farming as a couple), so I am once again moving. I have been searching high and low for just the right (and meagerly affordable) property to begin Granny Annie's Farm over on. I am working on acquiring a specific piece of property. It has hit some snags, but still very hopeful.

I will be beginning Granny Annie's Farm and Homestead all over, from the ground up. Everything will have to be rebuilt. I would love for you to follow along, as I begin life anew, totally from scratch, from the ground up. I will do my best to share it all, the good, the bad and the funny.

So come on and follow along as this old Granny, once gain, begins my life and farm all over, with my fur babies and feathered friends in tow. I am sure it will be a very interesting and entertaining ride!

Thanks for stopping in and have a fantastic day!

The Phone Call Run Around

 After that final moving day, I had my cry, I had my wallow, then I got up one morning, sucked it up, and headed for the phone with great determination to get permission to go back and get my belongings from my wrongfully foreclosed house (that, too, will be explained in future posts).

First, I was going to call the bank that actually now owns my home. But it is a German bank and I could not find a possible way to do that. At the last court date, what I did learn was that Bank of America (who used to hold the mortgage), had long ago sold the mortgage to Deutsche Bank. That bank now owns my property, but Bank of America services it for them. Kind of mind boggling, isn't it?

After a bit of run around, I called the law firm that had represented Deutsche Bank in court. The law firm told me that I needed to call the real estate agent that did the lockout, is now handling the property for the bank, and make arrangements with them to go get my things. They said that the realtor would probably be glad to set an appointment with me. The law firm (which has been very nice and helpful through all of this) gave me the name of the realtor and her number.

I called the number and talked to the woman I had been referred to. She said that she was NOT the realtor that did the lockout. She said that she had refused to take it, due to the condition of the house (it has repeatedly flooded) and impossibility of selling it. She said that she had no idea who was handling the property, that everyone that she knew of that had been asked, had refused it.

I called the lawyer's office back and told them that the person they referred me to was not the right one, that she had refused to do the lockout. The law firm said that that was who they had down that had done the lockout, that she had originally refused, but that she went ahead and did it. I said that I had just talked to her and that she made it clear that she did not have any part in the lockout... that she was not there. But the person I spoke with at the law firm that represented the bank, had no idea who else it could have been. She said that the lockout had taken place and that was the person they had down that it took place with. So with a sunken heart, I politely hung up. I had gotten no where.

A couple of days later the law firm called! They had looked deeper into the matter and finally found the correct person that had done the lockout. They gave me his name and number. My heart sank once again. This was the person that had,.a couple of months before, mailed me fake paperwork to try and get me to move out faster in exchange for a huge sum of money (this, too, will be explained in future posts) and had harassed me with countless phone calls for months before that. In the end he (Brian K. Kirk) had declined taking the lockout, after which it went to the first person I had been referred to that had also declined it. Somehow, at the last minute, Brian Kirk had agreed to do the lockout.

Next post ..... my phone conversation with Brian Kirk.

Foreclosure, Lock Out and More Moving

 As I said in my last post, this story is going to jump around a bit. For now, I will start where an end became yet another beginning.

My home of nearly 19 years was foreclosed. I had been working long and hard with the process of getting a home loan modification when I was unpleasantly surprised with foreclosure papers instead (I will get to that story another time). My final days of moving out were coming.

Some of you that have been following along, either in person or on other sites, know that the house was improperly built, had repeatedly flooded and was in bad condition, making sorting through my belongings slow and tedious. Even with a short time extension, when that final day of  'lock out' came, I was no where near finish moving. Remember, it wasn't just a basic move. Besides dealing with the flooding, I had several people's things to move and an entire farm. But that final day was here, the lock-out came (no, I didn't stay to watch) and I was beyond devastated at the loss of so much of my farm, business supplies, family keepsakes, my kids' belongings, and the list goes on, and on, and on. I could never even begin to describe the pain and emptiness inside.

I went home (to my new home - our nice tent at my sweethearts farm) had my good cry and wallow for a few days . . . . then  . . . . . a week later I got up with determination and started making phone calls.

After wading through so many phone numbers, phone calls, switching connections, dropping calls and starting over, getting the wrong person, getting transferred to another person, etc . . . . . I FINALLY got the supposedly right person. Several days, several calls, and several discussions later, I GOT TO GO BACK! YES! I got to go back and begin again packing up and moving my things.

Did I get to finish moving it all? NO, but we will get to that in good time. Next post will be discussing those phone calls sooooo . . . . stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

Granny Annies Farm has moved, but the Battle Continues!

 Some of you probably know that Granny Annie's Farm has moved. For those of you that don't know, my farm has moved to my fiance's farm. It has been a long, hard battle, as my home and property of nearly 19 years was suddenly foreclosed on while I was actually in the middle of a home loan modification.

The foreclosure began illegally, yet everything just kept on going right on through, regardless. Then the war, with all of its battles began, and continues on today, even after I am moved. Why? Because I am not totally moved . . . many of my belongings and farm supplies are still there, just sitting there, and yet more dirty pool was played to keep me from getting my things.

In the coming days, I will be sharing my stories with you... all the ups, downs, and continued fights. I will be doing this not only to get and protect what is mine, but even more importantly is that this is happening to so many people that I want to share all the resources and options that I know about with those people. I also hope that someone will see this all and share with  me, options and resources that I don't know about and can use.

I will warn you, I may be jumping around a bit with the order of events. I will probably be starting with a couple of months ago, lead up to know, then flash back to the beginning. Please feel free to ask questions along the way if my posts aren't completely clear, or if you have any questions at all. 

In the mean time, you can also follow along with me at Two Farms One as I begin life over in my new home (yes, it is a tent, but very comfortable) with my wonderful fiance and we begin the journey to combine our two farms into one fantastic one.

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

Oh, my gosh! What a scare!

Oh, my! It HAS been a long, looooonnng time since I posted on this blog! Far longer than I thought. Oh, how time does get away from us!

When I came back today, the first feat to overcome was to remember which email address I had this blog under so I could get in it! Took me a bit, but I actually finally remembered without having to dig back through two years of notebooks. Now to remember it again tomorrow, ha, ha.

Then, the BIG SCARE. All of my posts appeared to be gone!! Yes, the pics were still here, and the titles, but there was no writing in the posts! I thought, oh, no! What happened?! Did Blogger delete my posts because I hadn't been on here in so long?  . . . . .  then . . . . . . I started roaming around and trying to figure out what happened. Oh, am I embarrassed. Somehow, either I on accident, or some hacker with a weird sense of humor, had changed the Text Color to WHITE on the white background!!! All of my posts were actually still here, but the written posts and the background was all the same color - white - so nothing could be seen except white space. Yep, white camo posts.

Whew!!! Okay, all is well again and I can get back to work, posting way on this set of blogs.

Have a beautiful day!

Fall Soap Making

It has been a looong, hot summer! It was difficult to get much of anything done other than trying to keep plants and critters watered and cool enough, but now the cooler days of Fall have finally arrived.

With those cooler days of Fall, I have gotten back into my soap making. Once you ever get started, it can be pretty addicting!  I love creating new kinds, but the one that seems to be the most popular at the flea market is simply my plain Old-Fashioned Lye Soap. I prefer a more vegetable based soap, but I have been amazed at how many prefer this plain, simple, lard based soap.

I took several kinds with me to the flea market this weekend, but, once again, this plain one is the one that went best. At the end of the day, today, I was surprised when I realized that I was nearly out of it again! Looks like that will be the first one I will be pouring this week. Guess I better pour up a few extra batches this time. 

A Flood of Storms!

Here at the farm we have been in heavy drought for quite some time. We got a little rain over the Fall and Winter, but still not much. Everything has been so dry and I have actually had to water plants through the winter! (even dormant plants need a little moisture)

For about the past week my aches and pains have greatly increased. My left foot swelled up so much I could barely get my shoe on or walk. And yes, it hurt like the dickens! I hurt in places I had never even hurt  before!

Yesterday, the rains started to fall and the viscous storms rolled .... one .... right ..... after ..... the other. At the moment it has let up to a light sprinkle. I hope it stays that way, but I hear there is more to come. I am so glad I hadn't planted my lettuce yet, as it would have all washed away.

I really hope the goats hold their legs together and don't pop any of their kids out until after all this blows over. We sure did need the rain, but not this heavy! Repeated, slow, gentle rains was what I put in my order for.

Last I checked, and that was a couple of hours ago, we were up to between 6 and 7 inches of rain out here (in 24 hours). The road I am on (and several between me and town), I am sure are badly flooded (meaning I am stranded here for awhile).  The weatherman actually got it right this time, amazing! But still, we should really pay attention and tune in to what our bodies are trying to tell us, as the weatherman usually never gets it right. I am going to head outside right now, while there is a break in the downpour, and feed a few critters.