Where Do I Even Start?

Years ago, I used to write a newsletter for an online group to update everyone as to what had happened over the months time.  SO much has happened in the last 6 months, I have decided that maybe I should write a newsletter to update you as to how we have gotten to where we are today.

"Red's Place" Chapter 1

Starts in Singapore

After 2.5 years, we left Singapore to come back to the US.  We had no permanent destination as the company had not decided where to put Steve, so we went back to Louisiana, got our camper and parked it near where we used to live.  We visited with the girls, he worked from the camper and prepared for a job in Mississippi; one of the last what he needed to do to finish up his Singapore job.  The company was still depositing checks, so all was good.

One day we packed everything in the camper, attached it to our backsides and hauled it to Mississippi to a campground we would find out was not the best on the block.  Steve went to work to do the installation of the unit, everything that could go wrong did go wrong and his 3 week job turned into an 8 week job.  During the 8 weeks, he found out he was being transferred back to where we started 32 years ago - Oklahoma.  He was too tired to enjoy that thought and I was too excited not to.  He finally finished the job, and even though he was too tired to wiggle, we loaded up the camper and again attached it to our backside and moved back to Louisiana.  While in Louisiana, he tied up the loose ends of the job shipping pieces and parts to where they came from and doing paperwork.  I visited and dreamed of moving on.  The company was still depositing checks so all was good.

The media informed us about the flood coming to Morgan City - The Great 2011 Louisiana Flood they called it.  The National Guard came in and built a wall around the city for the flood that was on its way down from the north - you know all that snow and rain has to go somewhere, right?  South through the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya (AT-chaf-a-LIE-ya)  River and then to Morgan City, Louisiana - and Morgan City was on the path of swimming.  As you know, every thing we owned was in storage in Morgan City - about a foot above sea level.  It didn't look good so Steve called the relocation specialist who hired a moving company to come in STAT and get our stuff our of harms way.  They came in, packed and loaded for 18 hours and got nearly every single thing we owned - nearly is the key word here.  And Steve finished his paperwork finishing up the job.  And I waited and dreamed of moving on.  The company was still depositing checks so all was good.  Oh, and the flood never came.

We finally did move on - loaded up the camper, attaching it again to our backsides and moved to a campground in Oklahoma.  We stayed there 2 weeks.  Since state campground has limits as to how long one can stay, so we found a private campground and moved the camper and us to it.  It was not a good campground - we only thought the one in Mississippi was not great.  This one was packing us in like sardines - and because of that, we got booted out of the same campground before we even got parked.  It had something to do with the comment "you should sell grease when you rent out the spots so your customers could lube it up so they can shove the campers in to these tiny spaces."  Not sure, but that is about the time it was sternly suggested to us to move on.  We did - and we laugh about that to this day.  No, we didn't say that, but we were not upset to set up house somewhere else.  We found a new place and immediately started looking for a house.  Thank God his checks are still being deposited - but he had still not visited with his new boss 6 months after a transfer.  Hopefully the checks would continue being deposited and all would be good.

Somewhere else was not great either.  We heard sirens 24/7 and feared for our nightly safety, but we made it.  We searched high and low for a house -  and north and south and east and west.  East won out - we found the perfect place on 18.75 acres east of Tulsa with a nice house, pond, barn and loafing shed.  Since we had been pre-approved and everything was going so well, we asked for early occupancy and waited for the verdict.  And waited.  With no more waiting time left, we worried.  We knew our moving van had already left Houston and was on its way to us.  Literally we waited until the last possible minute.  We had no where to put the furniture, so when we lost all hope of moving the furniture into the new place, we rented 2 storage units nearby, and paid a month's rent.  Not looking forward to moving 54' of furniture several times, we were disappointed the pre-occupancy had not panned out.  10 minutes after we returned from renting the storage units on Thursday evening at 4:30, and just after he had called the moving van with directions to where he would unload in said storage unit, we get a call that we can move in.  Steve frantically calls the moving company and redirects them to the new place.   We spend the next couple of hours racing around trying to get reorganized.  And thank God the checks were still coming in - we needed every penny we could get now!

Friday morning, our moving van was here with all of our furniture and most of our prized possessions - most being the key word here.  They unloaded all day.  No one with a sane mind has this much STUFF.  Enough said.  I raced around putting the water and electric into our name - which meant racing 25 miles one way and 15 another way - and getting so lost my GPS shrugs and says "Lady, I don't have a CLUE where you are!"  I am learning about rural challenges right from the git-go.  When they finished unloading, Steve and I took a deep breath - could it be possible?  Could we really have all of our loot in one place?  Do we have a home now?  No.  We still have that last little bit of loot in storage in south Louisiana that the moving company couldn't fit - and we still have the closing on the house.  It should be a breeze, right?

NOT.

It seems we are in a 100 year flood plain... no, no, not the house, but the creek.  Yeah, the creek on the far side of the property might flood once in a hundred years.  But our house is on the far end of the same property (high and dry I might add) so the insurance requires flood insurance on every.  single. structure. on the property.  Three.  Not one.  Not two.  But three structures.  Three THOUSAND extra dollars just for flood insurance.  But we have to have elevation certificates to even do that. 

SCREETCH!  

Closing halted. 

And so we wait.  (Keep those checks coming... the stuff's getting deep now)

We are now waiting on a surveyor to survey our barn and house so we get a little piece of paper that says we are not gonna flood - but we still have to pay what FEMA says we have to pay or we have to move from God's 18.75 acres that I have recently dubbed "Red's Place".  Now, since it is already Red's Place, we cannot leave, right?  We have found a little slice of heaven here and we will just have to do what has to be done to make it our own on paper.  And since he finally met his boss and has even started working in a real office, those checks will keep on coming' - and it's a good thing, cause we're sure gonna need them!

However our loot - our mounds and mounds, and boxes and boxes, and mounds of boxes - are here.  Steph hears we have loads of boxes here and slam dunks the kid in the van and races up here to help her mom in distress.  Thank God for her and punkin' - they are the only reasons I am sane.  Never mind, the only reason I am... not in a straight jacket - ok?  We unpacked boxes and boxes, and mounds and mounds, and mounds of boxes.  And Steph mowed.  I think I have caught you up on how hard we worked her.  She unpacked and mowed 24/7 - and I made her do it all.  Oh wait, her dad made her mow when he came home and I made her unpack all day.  She worked her butt of and so did we.  

And on our down time, we plotted.

What to have on a farm... 

(to be continued)