(AF) MOVING UPDATE - - A Buffet and a Piano

My emotions seem to be running on such a roller coaster of highs and lows right now. One minute I am so excited that I found something that survived the flooding and other destructiveness and got it moved, then the next I am at an extreme low when I learn of a total loss of a beloved keepsake.

Three of David's fantastic relatives came yesterday to lend their muscles to move the buffet and my piano. (Bless you all!) The lighting is very dim in this house, especially since I have had to cut most of the power to it off a few months ago. Both of these (piano and buffet) have been stored in a corner in an area we had thought to be one of the safest and driest in the house. When they went to move the buffet, they could see that quite a bit of the laminate was coming off of the back and it had sustained a little bit of some other high humidity damage, but it was movable. It may no longer have its full antique value, but we can still probably refurbish it into our kitchen counter/cabinet in our future Tiny House, as we had planned. I was so glad to see the great, extra pains they still took with the mirror to get it moved safely. That mirror is the original mirror on the piece and supposedly over 100 years old!

My piano, which I have had since I was 5 years old, and matches this buffet, doesn't have such a good ending. It is extra heavy ... an antique upright, player piano. We were so very poor when I received that piano and my dad must have had to pay half or more of his month's paycheck to get it for me. He had seen, even at an extremely young age, how much I adored music and wanted me to have something that would encourage that love over the years. I have had it moved to every house I have ever lived in over the years, always hiring piano movers to move it (it always took at least 4 of their strongest men), but this time, we can't even find a piano store in this town!

David and his helpers tugged and lugged on that old piano and, one broken toe, one asthma attack, one nearly broken arm, another smashed arm, and many more bumps, bruises and pulled muscles later, they finally managed to get it moved the 15 feet to the front door. On the way, pieces began  to drop off. As they got it into better light and looked inside, they could see that all of the metal parts inside were rusted up solid! Also, as the flood water finally made it into this front room during this last, very unseasonable heavy rains, the wood of the bottom half had apparently soaked up much moisture, making the already super heavy instrument, even heavier. Then they tried to get it across the thresh hold. Nope, wasn't happening. (Yes, the piano is on wheels) Even lifting it just two inches over the little hump seemed near impossible. It just wasn't going to move.

I stood there, hugging my beloved piano, tears flowing, and silently telling it good bye ... then told them to just push it back against the wall. I just couldn't ask them to put their bodies through any more to move a piano that could not be repaired (would have cost thousands of dollars and still wouldn't be the same) to be used again, and would only be able to be a wall decoration. Getting it unloaded where it was being moved to was going to be even far more difficult than getting it out of my house, and I could not ask them, nor anyone, to do that.

Through my tears, I asked them if there was anything at all on it that could be salvaged to be repurposed into something else, so I could  at least take part of it for memory sake. Everyone brightened up and the ideas began flowing! So . . . that will be today's project . . . to dismantle what we can of my beloved old piano, and move just a small portion of it.

Thank you for reading my post. Have a fantastically blessed day! ! !

(AF) MOVING UPDATE - - Dismantling the Building Pt 2

Although far too slowly for us, dismantling the building is coming along.  So far, all has been possible to do. Not easy by far, but possible. We are still trying to figure out how to move the heavy floor, though.

If you remember, I originally purchased the building from Davis Buildings based in Stigler, Oklahoma. They had said they would move it but gave us the run around until it was too late, so we are dismantling it and attempting to move it that way. It will be our Tiny House to live in. We find it very odd and interesting that, since we first posted about our issues with them a few days ago, their entire website has been taken down! There website had been up for years and I had just used it a week ago. Very odd.

When taking a building like this down, it is very important to study it a bit before beginning, and mapping out the order in which you want to take it apart so that you don't have walls, roof, etc, crashing in on top of you. Those sections are very heavy with many sharp edges and could badly, even fatally, injure someone if not done in a logical and proper order.

We have one lower wall and 2 half ends left to take down. This part is going much faster than the rest. Here are a few more pictures and explanation. . . .

The building was supposed to be leak proof. They assured us of that. Yet after moving things out of it and getting a better look at the walls, we are finding several bad leaks.

We had much of our camping stuff stored under this window, especially our tents. As you can see, this window leaked, BADLY all the way across! Some of our tents and camping supplies got really wet and we lost quite a bit of it. Davis Buildings obviously did not seal things properly. More on this in the next post.

Balcony wall and window removed on one end.

David removing the other balcony wall end. The entire wall could be moved in one piece without doing this, but it is much too heavy for one (even strong) person to do this. The door was also removed and this wall was taken down in three pieces, plus the door.

This wall could be moved in all one, long section, but it was far too heavy that way.

Top part of wall removed. Removed in 3 or 4 sections. The remainder of the wall was removed in 3 part sections. Although still heavy, much easier to carry and move that way. 

We now only have 3 days left to move. I am trying hard to hold up, but I am beginning to break, and break badly at times. Our bodies are harshly arguing against moving any more, and we still have MOST of the moving to do. We have been going at as fast of a pace as our bodies will allow, but it just isn't fast enough. We have not had, nor does it appear we will have, any physical help moving. A couple of people that were had to cancel, but they had legitimate reasons. The rest, well . . . . just didn't seem to truly care and backed out. . . . kind of went into hiding without a word. If we could just, somehow, have more time to move, (and build new animal pens) the two of us could manage to get it done, except for possibly my piano and the wood stoves. I have had my piano since I was 5 years old, moved it to every house I have ever lived in, and now it is in danger of having to be left behind. My beautiful, old, antique piano is more than just a piano, it became a part of me through my entire life and holds the most beautiful and fun family memories. Somehow, I HAVE to find a way to get it moved. But it is super heavy.
PLEASE continue to pray and hold positive thoughts for our move, for a miracle of extended time, and for our health, strength, and reduced pain so that we can do the remainder of the moving. Thank you so much!
And thank you for reading our post. Blessings for a terrific day!

(AF) MOVING UPDATE - - Still Loads and Loads to Move!

 I am really trying not to let myself get down and instead, keep focused on moving at as fast and steady of a pace as we can, but it is getting really, REALLY hard to do that. We have about one more small load to take out of the steel storage building that we hope will eventually be our Tiny House. There is still no one to move our building, and at this late date, there wouldn't be time to get the needed permits, so we WILL be attempting to dismantle and move it in sections. The decision to do that, though, will come at a price. We are now having to make decisions as to what may be the most important things for life to keep/move. To take the time to dismantle and move that building, may mean two days worth of packed and moved belongings/business supplies that have to stay behind.

My heart is absolutely breaking that we can't get things packed/moved fast enough and the possibility of losing most of what I own is taking me down to a level I can't even begin to describe. I am also filled with so much anger and disappointment for so many of my friends and family members that I know could help, yet, not only are they not giving us a hand, they seem to have totally disappeared into the wood work. Even people I converse with on a regular basis on Facebook and on the phone, have grown silent. This has been an enormous wake up call as to who my true friends are and to whom I can truly count on when needed. About 3 people that can't physically help, donated a little gas money, which helped far more than they can imagine! That generous gesture enabled us to move a couple of loads, loads of belongings that we are certain not to lose, which is a HUGE relief! Bless you two!

One person has brought us lots of sandwiches and munchies. That is a HUGE help! I am hypoglycemic and with all the extra stress and extra exertion, I have had some super bad days with  my sugar levels dropping too low. A couple of days it was so bad that I just couldn't function for half or more of the day, which represents lots of left behind belongings. Keeping us in ready-to-eat, protein containing foods, keeps me going without so many sugar drops, and actually ads a good 2 to 4 hours a day to the time I am able to pack and haul stuff. Without having to take time to build a fire to cook, or going too long without eating proper food and having blood sugar drops, we are able to work much more efficiently. What a blessing! And so are those cold drinks!

We still have left to move . . . . the almost empty steel building, two full small portable buildings to empty and move (Rubbermaid buildings), part of the contents of my little red barn, most of the outside stuff, which includes a 200 gallon propane tank, 5 concrete benches, a large kennel (will have to be disassembled), and countless other outdoor items, heavy, large, bulky and small, plants, too. PLUS we are just now about ready to START inside the house! The stuff inside includes a couple of wood stoves, my upright piano, a buffet, and a few other large, very heavy things, plus all the household items (for several family members, 3 of which can't legitimatley be here) and business items, that flooding didn't damage, which still leaves a LOT. 2600 sq feet of packed full house. And we only have about 6 1/2 days left to move it all in! So, I am getting off of here and getting back to my packing. I have someone coming in a little while to help me move a load. She pulls up to my gate, I load it, head to David's place, he and I unload it, then start all over. People don't seem to realize that, you don't have to do anything but drive to help us get some loads moved. While David is working on building pens at his place (oh, yes, we still have quite a few pens to get built to move the rest of the animals), people with limited physical abilities that do want to help could help us by simply pulling up to my gate, letting me load their vehicle up, drive to David's, then he can unload it on that end.... driving would be the only physical exertion you had to do. But only one person so far as been willing to do even that much and for that person, we are TRULY GRATEFUL! ! !

Okay, back to my packing. Please, at least keep the supportive prayers and uplifting positive thoughts coming! Thank you for reading my post and have a blessed day!

(D♥A) FOR THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN WONDERING

  As the year comes drawing to an end, I have been reading around our blog as if I were just a reader and it has occurred to me that there are probably quite a few questions many of you might have but have hesitated to ask. So . . . I hope to answer many, if not all, of those questions in this post, and if you still have any more questions, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK!

D♥A - Many of you may be reading this as "Dave loves Anna", but the actual meaning is . . .  "the love between Dave & Anna"

Are you two engaged? - - YES!, we are engaged! And we have been for a very, very long time, now.

Are you planning on living together at the same farm? - - YES!, we can hardly wait to be living at the same farm! It sure does seem to be taking a long time, though, doesn't it?

When will you be getting married? - - That is a good question! As much as we would both love to run out and tie the knot right now, there has been (and still is) a lot of Red Tape we have to clear out of the way before we can. NO, neither one of us are married to anyone else. And NO, neither of us are in trouble with the law, or anything like that. But here in the U.S. our government seems to be geared for middle-aged people and older to live as singles, and tosses a lot of clinkers into the older set living as married people. As soon as we get a little more Red Tape and stuff cleared out of our way, we will get married anyway! And we promise, we will tell you just as soon as we have set a date!

Which farm will you be living together at? - - Due to the nature of some of our Red Tape and clinkers, we can not answer that one right now. But we will tell you this much . . . when we finally start that life together on the same farm, under the same roof, it will be in a Tiny House! We will be turning a 300-square foot insulated steel storage building into a very cozy little house. Then our main house will be turned into our business work space. We seem to have so much of our business stuff all around us, that everywhere we turn and look, there is our business. We both seem to be living in our business with a dab of space left for us. So, since we need so much creative space, that is what the current house will be, all business, and we will have our little, cozy, business-free space to retire to at night. So be ready for future posts about our Tiny House building journey!

 Don't let the current grungy look fool you! It will be painted nicely and have a wrap around porch added. And of course, a pretty little yard around it. I can hardly wait! It already smells great inside. It has been being used to store some of my candle making supplies.

The above will be our front door. Imagine it with a BIG sleeping porch added to it, and a pretty breakfast table! The window at the top is to a loft that will be a tiny little guest bedroom.

 This will be our back door. And yes, the window above this door also goes to a loft room. There will be a small porch on the back, too, opening out into an outdoor kitchen, and an outdoor living/dining area (yes, we will have a tiny kitchen, and a tiny living room inside, too, but we prefer to be outside when the weather is nice).

We FULLY intended to be TOGETHER on ONE farm, long before now, but so many things have gotten into our way. . . finances, health, injuries, and quite a few other unexpected turns, but we will get there. We would love it if any of you could help us with a few prayers and some positive thinking to help us get there faster! Right now, finances and physical abilities are our two biggest obstacles, though time is another huge one.

As we embark on your journey to build our Tiny House, we would love to hear your wonderful ideas, no matter how good or silly you might think they are. And if you have any questions for us that we may  not have covered, please don't hesitate to ask. If we can't answer it right now, we will just as soon as we can.

Thank you so much  for taking the time to read our blog!