As a follow-up to the House Hunting entry of a few days ago, we found a wonderful place. For many reasons, it is perfect, although definitely not a down-sizing. The log home is smaller than our current home, but not by too much. It is still four bedrooms with 2.5 baths, a living room and a large kitchen. It has a front porch and a rear deck, as well as a full basement that is semi-finished, including plumbing for a kitchen.
The well-built cabin is solid and was put together by Mennonite builders. It sits on 4 acres of rolling farm land, and has 2 more acres available to purchase at a very good price. There are three barns, one larger one, one the size of a one-car garage, and one smaller barn-shaped, two story shed which is larger than the one we have now. There are four rectangles of vegetable garden area, as well as blueberry bushes, thornless blackberry and raspberry bushes, grape vines, asparagus and rhubarb patches fruit and nut trees. And, there are lots of flowering bushes and gardens. Aside from all that, there is a large fish-stocked pond that borders the property, with permission from the owner, who lives across the pond, to use it. It's quiet and peaceful with little sound sound, other than those that Nature provides.
The snag comes in the location. It's 25 miles away from our current home, and despite every human effort to have Mom move there with us, she will not budge. She doesn't want to live with us.....or anyone.... even though she could live in what could be a very cute basement apartment (with very little effort in making the space hers.) I guess I see her point...she's settled, and doesn't care to be up-rooted. She probably wouldn't feel very comfortable being there alone, with no close neighbors, so that might create some issues if we want to go to see our kids or away on vacation. Because it's so far from her, the property would not be ideal for reaching her in an emergency situation.
So, as perfect as this log house fits into our idea of what we both have wanted, it's not the right time to do this. Perhaps the future will hold another place, maybe even a better one, though that is unimaginable. For the time being, this dream will be let go.
