SOooo... We Made Our Decision! :-)

We are going to bid on house number 1!!  Hold your breath - or better yet, say a few prayers!  

Why we like it so much:

It has nearly 20 acres, complete with a pond, a creek, lots of pipe fencing, nice big trees including native pecan trees, a place for farm critters already fenced, a loafing shed for horses, a barn, a storm shelter (pretty important this time of year), tree swings, acres and acres of rolling prairie land with wild flowers sprinkled with wheat, and... oh, did I mention a beautiful house?  Hmmm?? 

Oh, and a itty at!  (kitty cat for those of you that didn't know my cousin Roger!)

And with those thoughts in mind, we are going to sleep on it.  Tomorrow, we call the real estate agent and start the task of trying to buy the place.  Steve is looking in the paper for tractors as I write this... can't wait to get this party started! 

I am excited!

Here are a few more pictures of property #1:

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this process.  If God wants us to be here, we won't have a problem in the world, right?

I might even post more pictures tomorrow, but for now, I am going to dream about it.  Night all!

House #2

Driving out to house number 2, we weren't nearly as impressed with the outside, and it was only 5 acres - which is plenty for me, but not so much for my hubby.  However take a look this - unimpressive isn't it?

However, when we walked into it, we changed our minds...

 It had a 'tuscany' feel and was beautiful inside - very relaxed and nice.  Very much like Steve and I like to be  :-)

The kitchen was great!  It was nice and open with a door (on the left there - look in the previous picture) going out to what would be Steve's outdoor  kitchen:

This is the first time I have even encountered concrete counter tops (and floors!) - and darned if I don't LOVE them!   They are great!

The master bedroom and bathroom were wonderful!  I can't even imagine having a place like this:

A bathroom like this would be a dream!

The patio is perfect for Steve to build an outdoor kitchen:

And it had an herb garden right beside the patio.

Heck, it even had the beginnings of a garden out by the garden shed:

How cool is that for the borders?  Mulch and borders all in one!

The yard is beautiful:

The house did not photograph as well as I hoped it would - it was charming and very inviting.  We loved it!  The drawback on this one?  The view from the front door (and the master bedroom):

Not so pretty, is it?

I love the house, but I don't think it will make the short list.  However, I did find out I would highly consider concrete floors and countertops after seeing this one.  Oh, and I will take note of some of the decorating ideas... and garden borders.  I am learning a lot while on our little adventure.

Even learning how to make something (what do I call this?) to hang your trinkets from:

But, mostly I am learning that looking for rural property is exhausting!  Lots of miles on the road to rule out ones you do not want to see and lots of miles going back to see the ones you are interested in.  We come home whooped every single night... but so far, house number 1 is at the top of the short list.  Hope we find more to consider today or tomorrow... we are not stopping yet!

Off to look at more places.  Be back soon - I think we finally have reliable internet!  WHOOT!

House #1

Welcome back!  This blogging on the run sucks huge!  I have not been able to get much internet at all, and when we are, we are researching houses online.  Two cannot be online at one time - so he wins  ;-)

We made it to Oklahoma ok.  Once we got here, we went to a campground we had reserved for a month.  When we got there, the campers were wedged in like sardines - literally.  It was iffy if we could put our slide on our camper out - and we definitely could not put our awning AND our slider out.  As we backed in, a lady with her two pit bulls welcomed us.  You all know how we feel about pits... and if you don't, it is because you don't realize we were attacked by 2 and our dog was killed because of the attack.  She was a small dog in case you are wondering - no thread to those monsters.  Anyway, I was already uneasy about staying 3.2 feet from them.

Steve and I were commenting on how close the campers when one of the owners walked up.  I think Steve said something to the effect of  "If you fart in one camper you smell it in the next one" - we were that close.  I know, TMI, but it was freaking close to each other and we have stayed in hundreds of campgrounds.  Anyway, about the same time, my sweet brother *waves at him and winks* told the owner they needed to sell grease so everyone could lube up the campers to squeeze them in.  It was at that time we got booted from the campground - the fellow didn't think we were gonna be happy.  Ya think?!  We didn't argue - we were more than happy to leave as the biker guy and his significant other were having a knock down drag out fight next to the camper behind us.  We also (you listening folks?) WAVED at the carnies as we passed them on the way out.  Needless to say, it is a joke now that we are people of such bad character that we got booted from a campground of all places.

Soooo, we are now camping at a very nice state campground.  The problem is, we can only stay two weeks, so we have been frantically looking for an RV site.  We have decided there are only 3 in Tulsa and they all are full or very nearly full - and they are ALL wedged in like the previous one.  Apparently, the state campgrounds are all people stay in because they are so wonderful - and they are.  But not for long term.  So we will look again today while we look at houses...

We took hours and hours marking off houses that were within 45 miles of work.  We know since we want to live out in the country he will have to travel.  In January, Steve was transferred to Catoosa, Ok (a burb of Tulsa) so we were looking on the east side.   We had plenty of houses to look at.  Steve stopped by the Catoosa office to get a phone book, met with his boss and he found out that he has been transferred to another office!  He will now be working near downtown Tulsa - more towards the west side.  So all of those houses we had marked off had to be gone through again and re-figured.  The ones we had discounted as being too far had to be recalculated.  So now we are going to look at houses on the west side today - just drive by's so we can mark off what we won't even consider.

On the house looking front.  We have found 2 houses we love and one we are considering but as I said, we are still looking.  Here is one we really like:

View of front:

The kitchen:
 

The side view:
 

The view of our neighbors (see them in the very back?):
 

Yes, that is a bird house  :-)

View from the front door:
 

Straight out back view (neighbor's place barely visible on the right:

 Looking towards the back door and a clothesline:
 

A tree with a swing:
 

The shop (mandatory in Steve's opinion):

And apparently the house comes with a kitty!  (it had food and a huge container with more food  :-)

I think I forgot to say the house comes with nearly 19 acres, a creek and a pond.

And so that is where we stand now.  Looking and looking, aggravated because our internet is so sporadic and frustrated because we need a semi permanent place to park our camper.  Do you know of one in our around Tulsa?

Off to look at more.  Let me know what you think of this one!  We would love to hear your votes!

5 Feet High and Risin'!

Isn't that the tune of the Johnny Cash song?  Well it is getting pretty deep here and mores a comin'!

You know it could be serious when the news crews are here:

When the reporters are on the seawall above main street:

And when the Governor comes to the neighborhood:

Houston... ummm... Morgan City, there might be a problem. It gives us a knot in our tummies, a lump in our throat and a kick in the last to get things settled and outta here.  We will all be fine; as I said before, Steph and Todd are ready to run in a moment's notice and Steve and I are out of here today.  And we are on our way to Oklahoma!

But as we leave, we look back at what we are leaving:

The critters are trying to get to higher ground:

Most are ready and now that they have their possessions safe, their family moved out or ready to walk in an instant, they are taking a sit back and wait attitude:

And the water is 7.55 ft (5/16/2011 meter reading) and rising in Morgan City.  Soon to be 12-15 feet; but we're saving Baton Rouge and New Orleans!

Ugh. 

Getting in the camper and heading out.  Good luck folks.  We love ya Morgan City!  We love the people of Morgan City - stay high and dry and safe.  

Itsa Comin' :-(

"Louisiana flood: US to open spillway, deliberately inundate 3K miles in state to save New Orleans"

"Waiting for the Flood"

"Areas Will Be Flooded to Protect Louisiana Cities" (cities being New Orleans and Baton Rouge)

"Too Much Water: Army Corps Will Deluge the Bayou to Save the Big Easy"

"Entergy (electric company) Storm Center.. Keep up with information on power outages during this event.."

Those are just some of the headlines we are seeing today... (all have links)

We are the bayou.  We are the area expected to flood.  We are in a state of emergency.  It is us - a lot of us's... I know that is not a word... (I see Sarah shaking her head here)  It is thousands of us they are flooding to save hundreds of thousands.  Yes, I know it makes perfect sense - but there are people that get hurt in the process of that.  We are watching, hoping, praying...

Here is a thought - where are the people from those places we are saving?  Not here helping us.  They should all be down here volunteering their time to help save the ones who are suffering on their behalf.  Agreed?  Nuf said.

Our (Steve's and mine) belongings are out of the way - just in case.  We called in a moving company and they loaded us in 16+ hours.  More about that later.  The first half of the load was great, the 3rd quarter not so great, the last quarter, everyone was on edge.  WHY didn't they break it up in 2 days like they were supposed to?  Would have been much more efficient for sure.  More.  On that later.

Our daughter and her family have packed everything they cannot replace.  They will take that loot and leave everything else if they have to evacuate.  If you read about Lake Palourde, she lives in the subdivision bordering it.  It is a wait and see game.  We are supposed to be ok here in Morgan City.  When they open the Morganza, they have 3 days before it arrives in our area.  Ugh.  *stomach in knots*

Of course we are concerned when you read  THIS

Steve and I are leaving Monday morning to go to Oklahoma.  Bittersweet feelings here and feelings of apprehension and excitement for what is to come in Oklahoma.  Feelings of apprehension and dread of what is coming to Louisiana for family and friends.  Lots of prayers going up.  Again, it is a wait and see thing.

I can't blog right now, too busy getting ready to get out of here.  Will blog and add pictures later.  Sorry I am so sporadic right now - it shows how my life is going though  ;-)

Thanks for being so patient.  I will get back to regularly scheduled posts soon.  Itsa promise!

There is a Reason...

There is definitely are reason I don't get my hopes up on things.  This time it is to leaving for Oklahoma to look for a house...

You know the great Louisiana flood news going on right now?  Look at the news and MAPS... do you see Morgan City, Louisiana?  That little city on the very south part of Louisiana?  It is right where the green, purple and blue meet at the bottom of that map.  Yeppers, that is where we are right now.  Our daughter lives in an area 3 blocks from a lake and they are predicting 0-15 feet of water in her subdivision.  Large spread isn't there?  

We really have no idea what to expect, but we are taking precautions to get her family and both their things and our out of harms way.  Steve called a moving company in for our things, we will know today when they are coming to pick our household goods up.  There is an emergency order in for us so they should be here this week.  Cross your fingers!  They are going to put it into storage until we decide what to do with it - but for now, they are getting it the heck out of here, we hope.  Today we should know if they can do it...

We have been busy the last week - and I do have plenty of pictures to share, but I want to share only what is going on around us right now.

Sand bagging in Stephensville, just outside of Morgan City:

Right now the prediction is 0-10 feet of water above GROUND LEVEL - not above sea level.  Below is our daughter's subdivision.  It is surrounded by a levee, but as you can see it is a small one.  The HESCO baskets are dropped in a stack:

The National Guard (we have 16-18 men and women right now) pops them up and put rods in them to hold them side by side:

They carefully double check to be sure they had gotten all the rods in:

As they are doing that, a loader comes and adds sand/dirt to those bags already set up:

And hopefully all of this helps protect the homes in the city and particularly this low lying subdivision that is surrounded by water and has a lake at the back of it:

They have a lot of work to do:

And while they are doing that, we are packing and moving out of harm's way.  We only have 4-6 days to get ready!

We went to Baton Rouge on Saturday.  This is the Mississippi before any spillway is opened - and two weeks before a crest - with no further rain.  Those trees are not supposed to be under water:

But they are.

If you are interested in reading what they are concerned about happening, HERE is an article about the Morganza Spillway, the one they are going to open this weekend or early next week - and our levee system.  

Off to go to a town meeting.  If you don't mind, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  This week will be crazy, moving stuff out of homes, getting a moving company in to get our things and everyone getting out of the way of the water they are warning us about.  Thank God for our Coast Guard, National Guard and all the officials that are trying to keep us updated and safe.  What would we do without them?

We would be sitting ducks like those in the 'olden days' as our granddaughter calls it.  We would be clueless as to what was about to happen.  Thank God for technology that lets us know about what can be expected.

Like water rising and displacing a whole town... or many towns.

And many, many people getting killed.  Listen up folks!  Get the heck out of harms way - be safe rather than sorry.  It is better to err on the safe side than wish you had taken precautions.  Get busy!L