Things Always Look Better in the Morning

Last Friday night, after hearing that the underwriter and appraiser couldn't reach agreement on the value of Oak Creek, I drove out to feed the horses in a fog.  Brett was down in LA to make the last trailer run -- picking up his tractor -- so I was alone in the apartment.  I had a few glasses of wine, a handful of pretzels, and then took my sorry body to bed.

Saturday morning, I drove out early to feed.  The sun was up but not yet hot.  I topped off the water troughs, threw hay into the donkey pasture for all of them, and then spent a couple hours picking up manure.

The phone company guy showed up to turn on our phone service.  We can't get in the house, but there is a phone in the barn.  I called Brett, as he and his friend Marty drove up, and it worked.  Hot dog!  Cell service is hit and miss at the property so having a reliable phone is a good news.

I worked on taking the hot wire off of the goat area.  There is hot wire everywhere.  Everywhere.  We are not into hot wire so we are gradually taking it down.  So far, Brett has taken it off of the donkey pasture and I've taken it off of the goat area and part of the clover pasture.

After eating my tomato and cucumber sandwich and downing another bottle of water, I decided to put the horses in the clover pasture.  The horses and donkeys have eaten most of the weeds in the donkey pasture.  The clover pasture is about twice the size of the donkey pasture and gets some afternoon shade.

The pasture is bordered on one side by the driveway (above) and on another by the road.  I knew Brett would see the horses when he drove in around 5:00.

When Brett and Marty turned up the driveway, we were all there to meet them.  The horses ambled over to the fence and I ambled down the driveway.  Brett's eyes looked suspiciously misty.

Tomorrow, we will do what needs to be done.  We may need a new lender and this process may take a lot longer than we expected.  We are going to approach the owner about renting until escrow closes.  He's been very generous with giving us access.  It seems only fair that we pay him for using the property since its going to take more than a day or two to close.  It would also be nice to have access to the house (and the toilet).