Bee Tree Farm

I’ve never been much for keeping secrets.

There. I said it.

To any of my girls reading: I love you very much and have likely kept your secrets, but I promise it wasn’t ever easy for me. Maybe it’s because I need drama the way I also need oxygen. So, if I know something’s goin’ on then it’s pretty hard to shut up about it if, by shutting up, I am not somehow also stirring the pot.

Oh dear. I just re-read that sentence. It doesn’t paint a very pretty picture, huh? All I mean is that when it comes to keeping secrets that might cause excitement or unrest then I can’t, cain’t, cannot keep it secret. So sue me.

Which leads me to this: there MAY (heavy emphasis on the “may”) be house news. All the busy work we’ve been up to in regards to the house has been kept quiet on purpose. After so many stops and starts, it started to smack of desperation and no one, not even moi, likes to follow a desperate story with no happy conclusion. And probably neither do you.

I planned to keep quiet all the way up until the house was built, or at least until we closed on the loan; perhaps share some grand pictures of a ribbon cutting over a freshly poured foundation. But then I thought better of it. Because while I don’t like reading a desperate story, I sure don’t mind telling one (There it is again: drama).

So. The unkept secret is that we’ve been busy – capital “B” – when it comes to the house. The month of January was exclusively dedicated to pitting builders against each other for a bid, engaging a new lender, finishing the house designs and then (happily) saying goodbye to the designer. There have been lots of comprises and deals struck and promises made. And now that it’s (almost) all said and done, we’ve come out of this process with our 4th builder. 2nd lender. 2nd designer. 2nd foundation engineer. And a completely different type of house.

In order to increase our chances to have the plans appraised at equal value to the expected cost of the build, we completely tossed out the metal building. And metal siding. So what we’ve got is a perfectly conventional, hardi-plank sided home. No frills and nothing to make a lender squirrely. It’s a very house-y house.

The picture above is Jeremy digging the first “profile hole” for the septic man. The second picture is of Jenna awkwardly posing in a completed septic hole.

And if you were wondering, there’s just no good way to pose in a septic hole, probably because one should never pose in a septic hole. Bottom line is that these pictures folks, yes THESE PICTURES, are proof that one way or another, we will forge ahead. The appraisal has been ordered and should be complete by week’s end. We’ve got the cost down to bare bones and the house is as conventional as they come. If this one doesn’t go through then it’s not going to happen. Not now and not for a long time. If that bridge comes, then we’ll cross it.

Whew! Now that I got it off my chest, I sincerely hope my “secret” wasn’t too disappointing. But what were you expecting? It’s pretty much just donkeys and houses around here.