Itchy palms: money will be coming in soon (and then leaving again)

Really, I swear we aren't superstitious but an hour before our appointment with the mortgage broker yesterday my right palm started itching like crazy.

As everyone knows, itchy palms foretell money changing hands....if the right hand itches, it means money is coming in. Left hand itching means "get out the checkbook baby, you're gonna write a big 'un." And sure enough, when Gary-the-financial genius arrived, he smiled and said, "we have a lender."

And then my itchy palms were forgotten as we signed a huge stack of paperwork. Wahoo. Lots of money coming in.

I don't think it takes a gypsy fortuneteller to predict that in about 3 weeks my left palm will be itchy. At least, I hope so: that's when the sale is supposed to close and Haiku Farm will be ours (and the bank's) at last.

While we're waiting, here's a link to a video of some AMAZING riding skill. Someday, I dream, I'll be able to ride like that. Click on Stacey's name to go there.

Stacy Westfall and "Roxy"

(Even though this kid rides like an angel with never a wobble or bobble, I still wish she'd wear a helmet.)

Needed for New Place: Shovels and Rakes and Implements of Destruction

Today my friend Sky sent me her list of "must haves" and "nice to haves".

Between all the trail work that Jim and I have done for a lot of years, and even more years of camping with our horses, we've got some stuff...but the stuff we don't have is a kind of motley list itself.

We've posted a bunch of "stuff wanted" ads on FreeCycle, Craigslist, and we've been

hunting through every interesting-looking garage sale we can find.

And who knows? Maybe some reader will say, "hey! I've been tripping over some of those things for at least five years...."

So here goes with 

List #1, The Stuff Sky Says We Need:

Stuff we’ve got:
Shovels:  flat blade, point blade, snow shovel 
trenching tools,
Ax, chain saw, 
crow bar, pry bar
pruners, nippers and sturdy gloves, 
saw horses, 
heavy duty extension cords, 
sledgehammer, post hole digger, 
splitting wedge, weed wacker
 
Gotta-Have Stuff that we don’t have:
Wheelbarrow
Hoe, Pitchfork, 
Post hole pounder,  a maul
Power tools...., drill, circular saws, etc.
One good battery powered drill... or two, 
(to build the barn and  everything else!)
garden rake, leaf rake,
 mower and pull behind wagon
8' step ladder
big sturdy ropes
hedge trimmers
 
Nice-To-Have Stuff that we don't have:
TRACTOR!!  With accompanying implements
2 wheelbarrows
extension ladder
chop saw, block and tackle
machete and scythe

So, readers: whaddaya think? Are we crazy to move onto a farm before we even have a wheelbarrow?

Stay tuned, and I guess we'll all find out together....