January 7, 2014 the day to close, the day that will make the farm officially ours is finally here! It’s the coldest day of the year thus far, with a high temp. of -4 degrees and the coldest day we’ve seen in our area in several years! It was a cold day but also a pretty one with the sun shining. The low for the day was -14 and the wind chills were in the -30 to -40 degree range! Just 2 days prior, we had a big snow storm which dumped a foot of fresh snow on us! We picked a fine day to buy a new house wouldn’t you say so!
So we get all the papers signed and off we go! The plan for the day was to drive up to the house to meet the propane company who is scheduled to come drop off and fill a new tank so we can have heat until we get our wood burning stove installed. Then we were going to drive back down to Royal Oak to pick up a moving truck and empty our storage unit to move up to the new house. Well……things didn’t quite go as planned!
After leaving the closing, on our way up to the farm, our drive was less than favorable! The highway was a mess from the big snow 2 days ago and that mixed with negative degree temperatures means ineffective salt which means miles of black ice! We saw 1 accident after another and even a roll over! It was a scary drive but we made it! While driving, my husband thought he would touch base with the plow guy to make sure the driveway was clear for the propane truck. My husband had drove out to the farm the night before for our final walk thru to find the driveway was snowed in with snow drifts that were up to his thighs and he’s 6’1!! There was no way the propane was getting delivered in that! Well, the plow guy forgot all about our last minute deal to clear the driveway which is about 200 feet long! It all worked out thankfully!
By the time he was done the propane was there! That leads us to another problem. The old propane tank is in the backyard, with snow so deep, they couldn’t get the truck back there so they had to temporarily set the new tank in the front yard right next to the driveway until Spring. As luck would have it, we actually like it better here so we may make it it’s permanent position.
Once they got the heat on, it was time for us to go grab some late lunch while the house warmed up above freezing so we could get something done! We cancelled the moving truck because of the roads so we were not able to do much this first day.
After lunch, it was back to the farm. We started to cut out the old nasty carpet and disinfect the place. Day #1 is complete! Tomorrow is a whole new day!