new begginings

[mrmudcat]

Well time is getting short I fear so ive made some new crossroads choices.We have sold some Mississippi land 50 acres keeping 50 for hunting, horses etc. I have been real busy a good thing and have bought a 100+year old farmhouse acreage plus huge barn in Bama!!! My moms is coming home so to speak and we will be taking care of her or vice versa....she helps so much. My pops went to school right down the country dirt road and my youngest will also.The old house has been updated but I still want to restore it in a more primitive way if ya know what I mean.The barn now that is my place period!!! We have been putting in some good work days and enjoying life!! I bought a 20,000 dollar kubota l3830 and we are getting the barn ready for our horses which we havent rode since moving home(southland).They were transported to Mississippi on a family farm and have been well taken care of by our kin folk.The best part is the awesome loft area above the barn ,I have big dreams of a bar,stage ,man cave .(no drinking for me) I hope I live to see it come to fruition but if not the boys and alice will !!! I am happy ,life is good!!! I will have some pics toward the summer sping if I slow down ,right now im wide assed open!! Thanks to my friends here looks like im at the crossroads again and hopefully straight ahead is the right choice.............muddy:socool

Oh yea I will be starting a new gear buying frenzy,well maybe not a frenzy but a few great pieces!!

[Tig]

Brother mudcat, I think I understand what you are saying.

No matter who we are, tomorrow is promised to no man. Still, I have a feeling that you got plenty of tomorrow's in your tank! It sounds like you are doing life justice and have a great outlook. Life is wonderful, amazing, challenging, glorious and painful, all at the same time. My personal way to see everything has always been, "Life ain't easy, but it sure is good!" I think we're at a crossroads every day. As long as we're living in the moment, right here and right now, we'll always stay on the road that is straight ahead.

I envy you and the family living in the country, riding horses. That connection you have with a horse while riding washes away all the problems and worries with each step. Suddenly, you get plugged back in to nature, seeing the details, feeling the Sun, smelling the grass and pine needles, listening to the birds sing... :AOK

Brother, keep on keepin' on and be sure to let us know how things are goin', OK?

[poodlesrule]

Darn.. that Kubota is some machine, there.
Reminds me of my hard-working sheep farm days (which helped with therapy round one), especially the time I almost clipped an electrical line with a hay bale way, way up...

The farmhouse description sounds terrific.
Just curious, what kind of land is that, flat, rolling hills, wooded..?

It's too early for me to write something coherent, so I' ll +1 Tig's and send our best from snowy New England...!

[marnold]

Good to hear from you, Muddy. Glad to hear you are staying upbeat and positive. That's awesome. You and yours are in my prayers.

[kidsmoke]

sounds Glorious, Muddy! i do believe anything I'd add would be a repeat of Tig's observations. You attitude is an inspiration under any circumstances.

thank you for taking the time to share it all.

[piebaldpython]

Glad to hear you're coming along brother. Just keep on going forward until you run out of steam and then your boys carry you the rest of the way. Hope the worst of your medical procedures are behind you. I'm hoping too that you'll pick up a lap steel for your musical pleasures. Prayers and mojo still coming your way Muddy.

[Spudman]

Thanks for the update muddy. I don't know if I knew you were in Alabama or not. I'm from right around the Enterprise, Daleville, Ozark area originally. We had a nice barn when we were in Mississippi too. I'd love to still have that rural property, but alas, it's been sold.

[tjcurtin1]

Muddy, keep on keepin on with that A+ positive attitude! +1 to all the sentiments above, and good wishes for that straight ahead road to stretch out ahead of you further than you can see.

[Katastrophe]

Good to read, Muddy!

I gotta know, though.... What are your plans to mod the Kubota? I vote for a purple 'burst paintjob to start.

[mrmudcat]

Wow thanks guys .........poodle it has all 3 landscapes....muscadine vines ,pecan trees ,peach apple and pear fig trees tucked up in the S.E. corner.It is located in the best hunting area in mid AL. Pie my good friend I will be hitting you up when I get a steel from your goto...................Spuds I think we spoke of it a few times....the land in M.S. went to family and the rest joins it with stipulations on future transfers of said property!!! Hey my Daddy always said thats buisiness family or not............tj my friend please pm me your addy your plug is sitting on my desk as we speak! Kat the first mod is ordered ! I got a tiller, box blade and bushhog with purchase.I went to pick up a canopy(first mod ) today but the one in stock was to small.A plus is I got to upgrade from the factory fiberglass to an all steel one of course at a cost!!! Future mods are a complete unit from tractor tunes that mounts to the rops it is a powerful pioneer head with marine grade type hi fi speakers in a one piece enclosure. Ill add led backlights pto lights as options along with matching paint and subwoofer.LED light bar /bars also ..........pimp my tractor!!!!
http://www.tractortunes.com/

[Katastrophe]

That sounds awesome, Muddy!

[Duffy]

Best wishes at the crossroads, Muddy. Sounds like you have some real good things going for you.

We have a 100+ year old farm house too. It has been tastefully maintained over the years, with good attention to detail. We have done a lot of work in the last three years or so that I've lived here. Started out by buying some decent tools; a table saw, sliding compound miter saw, portable belt sander, drills, etc. We have bought a lot of lumber and made a lot of things from rustic but sturdy shelves and other useful items, to solid wood plank floors. We use a lot of quality stain and wood protectant, and especially wood oils like teak and tung. We like the oil finish better than the poly. It is more durable actually and ages well. When it wears in a while, another coat of oil and a buffing brings out the character of the wood.

We built our own kitchen table and several benches, including doing our own padded bench seats. Most of our wooden benches have wooden back rests. These hand made things look way better, in our opinion, than mass produced particle board items and they are bigger and have more useable space; plus they all have that rustic/primitive vibe that we desire. We converted a downstairs room into a really nice bathroom with a huge soaking tub and Roman fixtures. The tub sits toward the center of the room so you don't feel clastrophobic taking a bath; its wide open and has a twelve inch heavy wooden shelf around it that the tub dropped into. The shelf is well sanded and waterproofed, stained, oiled, and buffed to a beautiful butternut looking surface. Any splashed water beads up and wipes off without soaking in and leaving water marks. The tub and fixtures alone cost $1000 and we did all the work ourselves. The tub has a wooden skirt made of vertical three quarter inch boards from the floor to the overhanging shelf the tub sits in. The frame for the tub is built of two by fours screwed into the floor, etc., and the frame is covered with stained and oiled trim as indicated above. Zero tile. We even made our own mirror - bought a big three by three foot mirror and set it on boards in silicone and screwed stained and oiled boards with a channel for the mirror, over the edges of the mirror and into the backing boards. The whole mirror assembly is screwed into the wall studs with four inch counterset screws. We built towel rack shelves out of stained and oiled boards as well. The whole atmosphere of the new bathroom is pleasing to the eye, highly functional and relaxing, and blends in with the rustic nature of the house and property.

That is just part of what we have done and the vibe that the place has. We heat with wood and have an awesome air tight wood stove that will burn for over ten hours and produces a beautiful glow of burning wood thru its big door window.

We are always building something as resources allow, and the place is paid for. We have one of the largest properties in our little town. It's very quiet and peaceful with almost no cars using our street. The town actually grew up around this place over the years.

Your place sounds awesome - sweet home Alabama . . . . . Sounds like you were "Southbound" and had the "Statesboro Blues" somewhere along the line. By the way, we all sometimes feel like we are tied to the "Whipping Post".

Good luck and best wishes.

[mrmudcat]

Thanks Duff your doings are my dreams...............I cant begin to describe what kinds of americana we have found dragged outta that barn.There are heartwood pine floors walls underneath carpet drywall........I already ripped out a section of carpet before the entrance way and although rough hand hewned ,to me its sweet.....................I have so much going on with the barn trying to ready it for horses my focus is directed there for now.My family is horse crazy!!!

[Brian Krashpad]

Sounds like fun Mud! Best wishes on your recountryfication!

I'm still trying to get used to working from home without putting on 20 pounds because I'm only 10 steps from a kitchen full of food.

;)