The Picnic Day was here. I went early and picked up Anna and Lily. We had breakfast at the café first. Nothin' major, just the usual. We headed to the ranch and a couple of horses. Lily road with me. Anna had already said she could manage a horse. She wasn't lyin'. We took a leisurely pace, and I showed them some of the places I work every day.
Midmorning found us at the abandon house and buildings. Lily found this particularly interesting. It was more space to run around in than she had ever seen. Anna and I took care of the horses and let them drink and eat some. We were going to be here a while. The barn was our first tour. There were some boards that needed replaced, doors to be repaired and general maintenance. Nothin' I can't handle. Despite its age, it was still a solid building.
The other outbuildings were storage and the like, all needing some care. Just time. The last was the house. Anna and I left one building to walk towards the house. I reached to take a hold of her hand.
I don't know if that surprised her or not. Anna squeezed back and moved in closer. Lily was still running full steam around the compound. This was a treat for her to have so much space. Now the house had a front porch that stretched the entire length of the house. A support beam or two would need replaced. Some shingles repaired or replaced. We went inside.
Anna's eyes began to wander. I could tell already; she was sizing the place up. The front room had a big ass stone fireplace, complete with a huge cast iron pot. I'm surprised someone hadn't made off with it. A few broken windows. Easy to fix. The walls had some kind of wallpaper. That would have to come down. Well, a lot of it was already down or coming down. The biggest thing was dust and dirt.
The kitchen was just off the main room. It still held a monstrous wood stove and oven, again, cast iron. Anna went directly to the stove. It seemed to be intact. The stove pipe would have to fixed. There were some cabinets and shelves. Also, in need of repair. It occurs to me that with a fireplace and wood stove, someone is going to chopping a lot of wood. We moved on to the bedrooms. By this time, Lily had caught up with us.
She was looking at the two bedrooms with a discerning eye.
Then she suddenly announced.
"This room is my room. When do we move in?"
This was a surprise to me and Anna. I had not spoken to Anna about this possibility. Now seemed like a good time. I ran through the whole story, trying to emphasize the amount of work to make it all livable.
Then I said something to them both, Anna, and Lily.
"I want to make this place live again. But I can't do it without you two. What do you say? Come live with me here and let's build a life together."
Anna stood there speechless.
It was Lily that spoke.
"I told you he'd figure it out Momma. When do we move in?"
Anna added.
"Okay, let's do this."
I held out both my arms and spoke.
"Come here you two."
I held both my girls tight. It was about lunch time. We sat on the front porch to eat. Cold fried chicken, southern potato salad and some fruit. While munching away, we began to discuss plans for cleaning. We would waste no time. Tomorrow we would return and begin. Anna made a list of needed items.
I made brooms from sticks and thick grass. There was one that was Lily size. We began to sweep.
We worked for a few hours and made some progress. I wanted to head back so we wouldn't be out after dark. That and Lily would need to get to bed soon. The horses were saddled, and we made our way back. Then, once the horses were cared for, we drove back into town. I was going to take Anna and Lily home.
Anna had other ideas.
"Chuck let's go to your place. If we are going to live together, we can start now. We can pick up our stuff tomorrow."
So, to my room we went. Little Lily was about wore out from the long day. I delighted in carrying her into my place. Anna got her all cleaned up and ready for bed. She went down without a hitch.
Anna and I sat on the sofa. There were some furniture items, appliances and the like we would need to buy. We would pool our funds and make it happen. Most of it would be used, and that's okay. I suggested Lily have a new bed and drawers.
Anna says.
"Well Sugar aren't you the sweetest thing?"
I was pretty certain Lily had never had her own stuff. Anna would do the shopping in her spare time. First though, I got to get the place buttoned up. That means fixin' windows. I can do that. The broken glass and then some caulking. Easy enough. I will pick up the necessary supplies before work. Tomorrow, Anna will take me to work. She can have the truck that way. Well, we should get some sleep. Anna goes to the bathroom, appears a bit later, and goes to bed with Lily. I get around and have the sofa. We have a plan of sorts.
We figure it this way. The place gets sealed up. Then we move in. We can work on things while living there. Yeah, it will be messy sometimes and we may have to all be in one room now and again. But we can do it. Once I am done with work for the day, I ride to the house. My horse is taken to the barn and cared for first. She's gonna be livin' here too. Then I get to work on the windows. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Towards evening, here comes Anna and Lily with the truck and it's loaded down. Somehow, she has a used fridge and a few sticks of furniture. Not only that, but some groceries as well. We roughly move the refrigerator inside, plug it in and it works. I've got some more work to do on the windows. The bedrooms should be first. Anna does some more cleaning. I think we can be out here by the weekend. Saturday will be our big day. The stuff in my room will come out here. Anna and Lily don't have much except for their clothes. It's late by the time we head back into town. Lily has been passed out for some time. Tomorrow, we both work and then we'll do this all over again.
Friday night had us ready for Saturday. My room would be emptied, clothes and all. Then Anna's and Lily's things loaded. We would spend our first night as a family in the house. Livin' out in the middle of nowhere has attractions and disadvantages. It's quiet and all that. But if you don't have what you need, you have to learn to do without it or make a long trip into town. This can be both time consuming and expense if it happens too often. So planning is needed. But I think we have a good start.
