Moving Mocha

 
 In Mocha's best intrest I moved him to a friends house in Tonopah where he will have the company of 3 other horses and have more space while we get through this transition. 

  She came out to trailer him back to her place this afternoon.

 It won't be easy having him so far away and not getting to see him every day but it is a better place for him right now.

Winter is closing in! Brrrr!

 Kingman Arizona is usually 10 to 20 degrees cooler than what I am use to down in the valley. 

I don't do cold well.  Time to buy propane.

 RV Furnace doesn't work. 
Might just get a propane wall heater and yank the furnace and use the space for extra storage.


  Meanwhile.   

   Electric is expensive and I didn't want to jack up my sons electric bill using my little electric floor heater so he let me use his little buddy propane heater.  He drilled a hole in the floor to run the propane hose through so the tank could be kept outside.It worked pretty well for a few weeks but as the nights got colder it was apparent I would need something more. 



   Although not very safe, I bought a neat little vintage heater on Craigslist list for $50. I love it!

 It will get me by for now. I just have to be extra careful with it. 

  My 7 gallon tank lasted about a week to week  to week and a half only using it at night. If I used it all day on weekends when I was there all day it only lasted about 4 days. I don't like to be cold.

  Eventually we will get a wall heater with a thermostat and use this in out rock shop after we get it built wherever we end up someday.

But my flowers are still blooming! ...

.

Gardening with my Grand Daughter

  All 3 of my grown sons and my 3 grandchildren live here in Kingman. So spending time with them takes away from my homesickness. I look forward to spending more time with them after we move up here permanently. 

  Since my grandchildren were born I have been living 150 miles apart from them.  I had only been able to on see them on holidays and sporadic weekends if they stopped by on their way down to Phoenix. I have never been able to attend any Christmas concerts, parades or trick-or-treating with them. Soon they will be too old to want to hang out with grandma. 

   All the money in the world can't buy back that time. 

  Last weekend I had my Granddaughter over for to help me plant my winter garden. I had already started the seeds and the seedlings were past ready to transplant. I love to plan things like this to make memories. I had done it with my kids whenever I could and now I have the opportunity to do this with my Grand kids.

I taught her how to build a trellis out of bamboo for the pole beans..


 

She is such a good helper and eager to learn...

She was proud of her accomplishment.

Afterwards we fed my virmacomposting worms some vegetable scraps



 Then we finished the day with cookies and herbal tea.

    I invited my grandson too but he opted to go to the park to practice stunts with his scooter. He is hoping to get a sponsor.... 
  (As I was saying about getting too old to want to hang out with grandma...)

A new job, a new location, moving into the RV

  My hours were cut back in December of 2013 at my job in Wickenburg. It's bad enough to not make enough for the mortgage let alone coming up short for the utilities as well. So I have been looking for work elsewhere. It wasn't going to get any better there. 

THE PLAN

  To stay at my middle son's house in the 5th wheel in Kingman  while I work up here where there are more jobs.

  I was hired  the 8th of August at Lander Industries. Assembly line work making Renegade Hoof Boots for barefoot horses. I actually bought a pair for my horse about 6 years ago.

 Mr. & Mrs. Lander started the business in their kitchen about 11 years ago. Kurt Lander invented it himself. It outgrew their kitchen into their garage. Then just this summer they expanded to a building in the industrial park near the Kingman airport and ship all over the world.

 So I moved into our 5th wheel parked in my son's back yard. 

My husband is staying at the house. "Holding down the fort".

  My son can't have pets at his rental. Besides if no one was living at the house the bank would assume we abandoned it and take it over. We want to hold onto it till they give us an eviction notice or till my son buys property that we can move onto, whichever comes first, so this is just how it is going to have to be for awhile.

 I drive home every other weekend to visit. I head down after work Friday, get to be home Saturday then about noon Sunday drive back to Kingman.

 Every trip back to Kingman I brought a carload stuff from the house for the RV.  And stuff to sell on craigslist up there as there is a greater population of potential buyers.

To help myself feel a little more at home, I planted a little garden next to my sons house and brought some potted plants from the house.

 My 2 oldest sons sealed up all the seams and installed brand new roof vents to make sure it wouldn't spring any leaks when the rains come.. 

   My boys take good care of their mom :)

   I am looking forward to having a garden and pond again and keeping chickens. It will come, in time. And life will be normal again. Just a new normal.

  

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The Purchase of our RV

   It is true that for every door that closes another door opens.

  We accepted a loan from a close friend to buy an RV so when the bank finally forecloses we won't have to live under a bridge or burden the kids.

   I found it on craigslist.
Old but cozy and passed my son's inspection.

   It's a 1985 34 ft Aljo 5th wheel. And got a smokin deal on it thanks to my 2 eldest sons, going through it with a fine tooth comb BEFORE we bought it.
  They did a walk through inspection listing everything that it needed  so the sellers dropped the price from $3000 to $1000.

Living-room

Kitchen

    It had never been used for traveling as far as we could tell from the half dozen previous owners who never registered it in their name. The only person who had ever transferred it in their name was the original owner who bought it off the lot in 1985! 
 Because of the "hassle" of getting a bonded title ( $150) they offered to knock off $1000. from their original price the day we went to look at it. 

    They were, what one would call, "motivated to sell"!

 It's going to need some work but nothing urgent.

 It's a shelter from the elements and that's what counts.

What more does anyone really need?

   Once the deal was done my son towed it to his place in Kingman AZ.  It towed beautifully in spite of the tires being nearly 20 years old!

THE PURGING BEGINS

 STUFF

 
So MUCH Stuff! Years of accumulation.

It's a daunting task sorting through everything we have accumulated as well as all that my Dad left behind. His 83 years of mementos. And his parents mementos...

   We have several months to complete this task but we are getting there. It doesn't have to be so difficult. We just have to get into a different mind set. We tell ourselves; "It's just stuff". 

  First thing to do is pack or set aside what you would save in a fire if you had time. Documents and necessities and family heirlooms. Give some to grown children or put aside for storage. 

 I am thankful we don't have a basement or attic full but the barn makes up for that! A BARN full to toss, burn, give away, sell or repack for storage.

    Pulling stuff out of stored boxes and the deepest nooks and crannies of every closet, cupboard and cabinet.

   Reading others peoples blogs about this task. I know we are not alone with the struggles of "letting go". Most of it is pretty easy to toss but some things I have to set aside and talk myself out of. 

... You DON'T Need It!"  I  keep telling myself..

Be assured it does get easier with practice.

   They say to get rid of anything you haven't used in a year, even if you aren't downsizing. 

    Well, I have stuff that's been tucked away for 10, 20 and even 30+ years! Most is easy to purge but other things I struggle with.

    Oh! And then there is my Dad's stuff! 

   He was born in 1913! Some is my Grandparents stuff! They were born in the late 1800's!  Most of that will  go into storage. Some I might donate to a WW2 Museum tho.

    It's mind boggling but at the same time this really is a good thing. A blessing in disguise. Moving or not, this needs doing.

 If we weren't forced  into doing this and if anything ever happened to me, I'd hate the thought of my kids having to deal with sorting through all this stuff. It wouldn't be fair to them at all. This is a major motivation to get through this part of preparation to live in a 5th wheel.

  When I start feeling "separation anxiety" about the stuff I'll take a walk out in the desert and imagine that I already don't have a house, and all that stuff ....

 Ill Imagine I had just pulled off the road and stepped out of a trailer and am going for a walk taking in the scenery. 

I put my mind there and imagine I already don't have all that stuff.

It's all gone and replaced with this ......

 Quiet

Fresh air

Endless scenery  and wildlife ... FREEDOM ...

That helps motivate me too.

Instead of having things (that can be replaced) sitting on shelves that I have to dust off...

    you can't replace time and missed opportunities.

No amount of money can give you more time.

Instead of stuff I will be free to roam 

 all just a step outside my front door, wherever we park it.....

     Someday my body will not cooperate. Someday I will not have a choice but to sit in front of the TV and stare at those dusty things on the shelf. I won't even have the ability to dust them!

   But right now we have a choice......

 If anyone has any tips to share about this task, please comment!

Previous Post - The Beginning / Saying Goodbye            Next Post - The Purchase of our RV

The Beginning / Saying Goodbye

Chain of events that brought us to this new chapter.

We have enjoyed this view out our
 living-room window every morning for 15 years .

I am going to miss this place. 

 I had never been a "home owner" until we got this place in 2000


  Planted a garden every year. 

Planted a pond and cat tails and goldfish...

~

         Nothing ever stays the same tho.

  Learned that a long time ago. My Mother passed away when I was 4 years old . We moved a lot, different neighborhoods, different schools, different friends.

   Then as an adult after 3 kids and 2 divorces we moved to Arizona from Oregon to help my Dad in his last years.

Change shouldn't feel new to me.

  Life is always changing. Transforming. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.  We can't resist it, we have to roll with the punches.

~

 After my Dad passed away I assumed the loan on his house.  a
A"Simple Assumption".

  A little paperwork and $75. and it was done. I "owned" my first house. A place to raise my kids! No more renting. Didn't have to ask permission to plant a garden or build a pond or paint the walls!

   Many thought I inherited the house and it was paid for but it wasn't.  It would have been paid for if he had some kind of life insurance  or mortgage insurance but he didn't. But at least I got a house with no down payment. That was better than renting as far as I was concerned.

   In 2010, my husband was no longer able to work. The long road to trying to get on disability is a story in it's self. And now it's obvious it isn't going to happen before the house goes into foreclosure.

  For 3 years we spent all of our savings and sold everything of any value to stay afloat. We held on  as long as we could. There are very few jobs here that can support a household on one income. So it's time to move on.

Our Garden

Our pond and all the critters it attracts. 



The desert toads and dragonflies have come here to
 breed every monsoon season for over 10 years.





And other critters come for a drink
 from the pond during our scorching summers..

  We built a pond, and a garden. and raised chickens.

  Sold eggs and zucchini to friends. 

   And we have been here long enough to have a family pet cemetery in the back yard.

           

   But life always changes.

  Hind Sight 20/20, we should have spent our savings on an RV at the onset 4 years ago and pulled out before we spent every last cent of our savings prolonging the inevitable.

    Finally defeated, we will  be sorting through years of accumulation making plans for a new chapter.

Welcome as we share our journey.

   Life will be good again, it will, just follow and see. :)

  

NEXT -  THE PURGING BEGINS