We are of an age where we have to downsize. I hate not being able to plant in the yard, tend to my acreage here. I nor my hb are really able to keep our mtn side like we would like it. Its either let some of it grow up or hire someone. Who do not do a good job, unfortunately. As you know we have two properties. One on the coast and one in the mtns. He loves it there, I hate it. I love it here. Sooo we have kept both. Not an easy task on our minimum income. Sometimes I kick myself for not going there. But I really do not like or feel at home there at all.
The lady who sold us this place left but then got a place almost as hard to care for as this one before she was happy again. As long as I breathe and can set on my porch here, I am semihappy. I am not sure downsizing is the answer as much as caring about where you are. I would be happy to let the trees take back over the lower acreage and just keep up around the house mowed. I know my flowers are dying off in most areas. that makes me kind of sad. I did have fun gathering the different varieties , planting and looking at them for a long time,though. I have asked myself sooo many questions about staying here. Nothing is ever really settled. On the coast I could not grow things like I do here. Too much heat and dry sand. No real soil. After May most things burn out. Yes if I felt like going out when its 90+ degrees and watering everyday I could grow some things. But , you see that is my weakness, the breathing at 90 plus the humidity.
Sorry for this rant. Yikes
I really have had a blessed life. Good people in it for the most part and very little times of need. an easier life than most. Take care
I'm with you on hating the coast. I can't handle the heat/humidity, either. And I hate flat land and sand, blech! The mountains are my home.
I hear you about not being able to care for your place the way you want. I was just talking to Tom about letting us hire someone to bring in dirt to bring the level of the "yard" area up to cover all those nasty big roots that trip me up, then letting
them spread and seed it. And making a permanent path/walkway from the driveway area, wandering past the steps and on down to the barn, or at least, to the pen gate. And I want to widen the steps, make them nicer-looking, but ready for a chair lift, if need be. But, Tom really wants more of a dumbwaiter type elevator platform so he can put bags of groceries on it and not have to carry them up the stairs anymore. On Monday, we are supposed to close on my late father's house. There won't be a huge amount from it because he took out a home equity line to keep his garage door business going when he should have folded it up, plus I'll have to let my sister take out what has been spent over the past year on utilities, taxes, the appraisal, etc, and then, there's the real estate fee. After all that, as long as there are no surprises, we
may have enough to completely pay off our mortgage here. Then, we'll only have to pay yearly taxes and insurance on this place.
I told hubs that if I get our mortgage paid off, he needs to let me hire out some work to make this place more elderly friendly, for when we are less spry than we are now. He seems to agree, at least right now. May have to revisit the argument later, but at some point, the writing is on the wall, old guy. He has no discs left in his spine, a bad knee, etc. Time to let someone else to the real heavy lifting, even if it does cost twice to three times as much as it would cost us to do the work ourselves. Him letting me get the big steel barn built was the first big, "let someone else do it" project, even though we did the entire interior by ourselves.
