Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Horse Before House Part 1

If it hadn't been for Val, I would probably still be living in a tiny, low-lying, overpriced rental cottage, waiting for the next storm to come and flood me out again - frequently needing to negotiate several feet of seawater to get to my horse.



The paddock and run-in I leased for Val, was put on the market just a few months after we arrived. In the scramble to keep the only suitable horse-keeping spot available, I made a pie-in-the-sky offer on the property (owner financed + no down payment) and suddenly was the owner of 2.7 acres on a tiny destination island in the Atlantic Ocean.




Rent and mortgage being out of the question, next came the Shimmy Shack. She took her final journey to the farmette, providing me with a semi-comfortable, somewhat watertight home for the last eight years.




Fast forward to last January, and the house building journey began for real - plan chosen, builder interviewed, contract written, construction loan secured, site cleared. After some serious number crunching - I bit the bullet, committing to be the painting contractor - which I can confirm, is much easier in the theoretical phase of the house building project lol.




Doing anything equestrian-related beyond caring for my horse, (much less creating blog-worthy horse content) was simply out of the question in 2018. It feels like the year passed in the blink of an eye. I was pretty good about documenting the process photographically, so hopefully the pics will help me share my review of the Year of the Unicorn...


  
  

14 comments:

  1. Wow, you had a wild 2018! Can't wait to hear more about this.

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  2. Oohh. This is so exciting! I can't wait to hear more. =)

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  3. It must have been a tough year but at least it’s all done now. Can’t wait to see more pics and hear all about the new house. What happened to the Shimmy Shack? When you have the time, I’d love to see a few pics of Val and hear what you’ve been doing together.

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    1. A - Will be doing a future post on the fate of the Shimmy Shack for sure. Val would be the first to say he's taken a backseat in the attention department lately... ;)

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  4. YESSSS!!! I'm so thrilled to see you start writing about your house-building journey!

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  5. Wow. I can 't wait to hear more about this!

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  6. I've been waiting patiently to find out how it all ends up! Really excited for the rest of this series

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  7. This is so cool. I can't wait to read all about it.

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  8. Congrats!! What a whirlwind. I can’t wait to see it and hear all about it.

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  9. Wow!! So cool. That would definitely keep you busy! I can't wait to hear more and see more pictures. We live in a little mobile home which is good enough for now, but I have always dreamed of building something here.

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  10. Wow, I'm so excited about your new house! Can't wait to hear more!

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  11. I am so green with envy over here right now. You are describing my dream situation. Mike and I tried so hard to look into buying a small plot to plop the horses on while living in a camper while we planned a house. Unfortunately, this is basically illegal in NJ and with prices for everything up here, it's never going to happen at all if we don't live the state. I am so thrilled you are writing posts about this! This journey fascinates me...

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    1. Well - it technically wasn't 100% legal for me to live here in the Shimmy Shack either lol. Kind of a shoot first - ask questions later situation. I kept a super low profile until I had the mortgage in place, praying that no one would notice what I was doing. Once there was a future house in the picture I figured the authorities wouldn't have the heart to kick me off my property.

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