Wet beginning foundation

Further adventures in the road to a new house

Here is the promised story of what happened to my mobile home after someone wanted it from FREECYCLE:
I wrote this sometime near July 28, edited Aug 14
The foundation and septic will be finished in the next couple of weeks. The house is supposed to arrive Aug 11.. then another 6 weeks of putting it together and right. Our biggest obstacle so far was getting that huge mobile home off the lot. I finally realized I could put it on freecycle, an internet forum for giving stuff away. It would have cost us $3000. to have it dismantled. And now that I see how much room is left on the property after digging the hole, the dirt piles, the rock piles the boulder piles, I definitely had to get it off the property. As apposed to leaving it and dismantling it ourselves.. (which of course never would happen with Jons motivation for home improvement).

So, last minute, a girl comes and sees the place, tells me she is using her stimulus check to have it moved. Its all the money she has. Jon and I have to pay for a welder come to the house to weld on the tongue to tow it with. $575.00 for that. Then the day of moving, the transporter needs a form from the town office saying our taxes are up to date. Go to the town office.. the state says that "up to date" means paid up until June 09!!! Another $700.00.
Apparently, AFTER she hired and paid him, she went to his office with the form from my town. He was then to take it to the Dept of Motor Vehicles for some sort of permit to transport it. On the walls of the office Patty saw tickets, and summons to court. She said it looked like he and his wife lived out of the office. It was full of crap. She immediately regretted going with the cheapest guy in the area. He said he would arrive at the site after a "transaction" went through on his bank and his trip to the DMV. She waited from 9am until 4pm when he finally showed up. We speculate he was using her money to get some previous inequity solved before he could even start legally hauling again.
The guy is a real looser.. she didnt know, I didnt know. He was cheap, she paid him in advance. A professional would hire flaggers to stop traffic when pulling out on 1A. A professional would have someone driving in front and behind to assure everything was ok.
Jon just happened to be driving back from the biggest tourist spot in our area (driving his big ol' UPS truck) at the time the home was hooked up. He pulled around the block and sat with the neighbor to say goodbye to our old home as it pulled away into the sunset. Nothing prepared him for what happened next.
Well, the hauler knocked out part of our fence, didnt pull wide enough on the major road and hit two boulders hiding behind brush, took off the end wall, and a sizeable corner of the house. Luckily a cop showed up and made him responsible for the accident and the damage. What a loser. Then he left the mobile home in the breakdown lane up the road along with the back wall and house corner on our road for a week. Patty is beside herself as that was the only money she had. Jon was worried about this coming back to get us, making us somehow responsible.

Further Note: It is August 17, and still the mobile home is in the breakdown lane on a busy hwy. Id like to know when DOT is going to make this man responsible for his accident.

This Home Free for the Taking

1988 14X78 Mobile Home. 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath. Needs some work, but great deal for someone starting out or need a workshop or something. You will need to move. Available July 12

Joseph 6th grade picture

Nathan 8th grade picture

The New Homestead

As it stands now, we may be placing an order for our modular home the 2nd week of June. It takes 6 weeks to build it at the factory. During that time, the contractors will be pouring our crawl space and building our septic system. More info to come!!

Joseph really thought this llama was cool. She ate a whole bucket of carrots while we visited.
The llama farm is in rural Maine. Joe was on spring break this week.

Its time to go to Mom's House - Joe's Artwork

Yesterday, Joseph was eating lunch at CAP (his group home) waiting for me to pick him up. This is what he drew on a napkin. The staff gave it to me as a keepsake. I think its just great.

My otherworldly boy. He is a ghost. Sees the unseen, dances to music unheard, creates worlds in his mind which I cannot fathom.
He is me, and yet he is snatched away from me. I know the culprit and I refuse to make peace. But the pain of this turmoil blankets with a sluggish goo. I wallow in it unable to free my fragile wings to escape.

A walk with Bandit

From the Artic North

Waterfall in my yard.
Ok... um, the snow can go away now.....

How about now???

My backyard

More backyard

Closet Studio

some folks are coming out of the closet.. Im going in. See the birches in there???

Birches in the works- better image

Notice the size of the tiny pieces of glass.

Front Yard Thanksgiving Weekend

Right out my bedroom window. If you look carefully, you can see the lake on the other side of the deciduous trees

Birches in the works

Well, I finally have a studio.. a closet..
This is going to be a fun winter, stuck in a closet to do art. Let me know what you think!

September 2007

I have been depressed since the end of July, when we had to move Joseph back to a group home. Nothing gives me pleasure. Not Art, Gardening. I am at war with God. I want to neither work nor sleep. Ive started watching crime dramas in bed at night.
But something clicked. My mother (Aunti Barb) and her new husband are visiting soon. I am worried about how awful my house looks. We werent able to replace it with a modular this year due to finances. I dont want her to see the way I live.... so I begin to do something about it.
I sponge painted the living room, packed up some things for storage. Added some annuals to a garden I thought was done for the year. I readied the boys for the new school year. I tried to wait patiently for my Aunt and Uncle to arrive.
Yay.. so here it goes. The weather was awful, I got to spend time with my new uncle ( I like him!) Jon took time off work and drove us to see moose and mountains. My aunt found a rock for my garden. I remembered that my family is pretty is awesome. I didnt want them to leave. Hopefully they will come again.
The shape of my house and life does not matter - my family loves me.

Time Takes Time

Whats to be said about an entry that only one person is meant to read? This blog is a continuim.. even my husband - my life mate has made little reference here yet. I have an opportunity to write only late at night and early in the morning. More will be said, more needs to be said. Peace please. I am too old and hormonal for anything else.

Early 1996

I believe this was Joseph at around 9months. He sure does look happy. Things were pretty happy then. We had no idea Joseph would be diagnosed with Autism, we had bought our first home. Both boys were active, loving and growing.