Quick - I've either figured out how to use my iPhone as a wireless Hotspot Modem ... or I'm tagged onto the extremely elderly neighbor's unsecured network ....

Doing very well. Feeling good.

Had the kids over today, with the grandkids. Wonderful day.

I have some pics. I'll tag on.. Post this now ... before I'm discovered ... heheheh.

Gary

I am thrilled to have a tad over 4 acres now. It's situated with a nice long compacted white gravel driveway that goes way back to the shop, and then beyond that to a lower flat area. Very scenic. The trees are amazingly tall long leaf pine - some very large in diameter - maybe 24" or so. There are huge magnoloa trees. There are scads of Live Oak trees. However; between them ... there are some sort of small leaf wiry bushes and scrub saplings. On the ground is some sort of barbed wire like vines that seem attached at both ends. They catch your foot/ankle and try to saw it off.
The previous owner just got overwhelmed lately with obligations ... and the woods and areas around the home for a bit brushy. I had been looking at the DR brush mowers. Looked great. Pretty pricy. And, of course ... you have to order it. Well, I decided to check the local availability. I went here and there. Saw stuff - not like those though. Finally went to a TSC Farm store ... they didn't have anything either. BUT ... across the street was a rental place. I went in, asked if they had any self propelled bush hog type machines. AND ... did they ever sell off their older units.
Guy came back with a Yes that they had them, and they had one they'd sell. $700 insteal of a new $3,000 unit of a 14 HP Honda engine on an OUTBACK brand bush hog. Cuts brush and saplings. 3 speed forward and single reverse. I looked it over ... put a deposit ... asked if they'd service it. I had stuff in the trurk - I'd come back the next day.
So - I got it and got it home. Within five minutes the right tire was flat and pulled off the rim. I then noticed that it had an amazing number of plugs in it ... hummm. But - I went looking, at Walmart and Lowes ... and found a tube for the tire. I managed to install same with odd tools I scrounged. The throttle cable housing was way too long. It had obviously been replaced, and not correctly. The spring back in the "S" twists, made it refuse adjustment ... so the engine returned to idle quickly. I fixed that - cut off about 9" of cable. Got it back. Well, in replacing the wheel, the keyway key fell out (even though I was paying attention to it). This made it appear as if the transmission had quit ... until I noticed the axle turning inside the hub. Can you believe .... I told Kelly to say one of her prayers (hers work ... by golly ... she's tuned in). Can you believe I quickly found a rust brown 3/16" square key ... laying in brown pine needles and brown leaves. Amazing. Got that back on - transmission cured now. Figured that the cutter head is on a release if you hit a stump or something. It trips. And, I figured I'd killed the belt. Dug into that - belts look good. Learned it resets then. Finally learned to use the machine ... and it's a beast. Cleaned up a bunch of areas with it. Excellent therapy.
More later. I'm making arrangements. Planning the move. And enjoying the process too. Just realized I might be able to use my phone as a hotspot. Hope this takes. I'll be more visible if it does.
Thanks for your well wish. This has been long needed. We'll make it happen. I have met a couple of people who say they are feeling sooooo much better down here. Including an X military worker at Lowes who sold us the washer and dryer this morning. He had a bad parachute jump - back is full of plates and screws and such. He said that up North ... it just killed him. Down here ... he's 100% better. THAT'S the ticket boys and girls!!!
Gary

Sounds like you've got a handle on the situation. Pretty much any place you don't need a chain saw to clear ought to be fair game for the new brush mower. One tip: when you get near the house, make sure the discharge chute (if any) isn't pointing anywhere near the sliding glass doors.

You can guess how I figured that one out. You can mow a lawn all day with nothing but grass clippings sailing out the chute, but let it get pointed at those big glass doors for one second, and you'll find the only little patch of rocks in the whole place.

Don't let anyone near to watch either. A few years ago, I was clearing a field with a DR push trimmer; I snagged a rock and knocked Chris on his but from 20 yards. Talk about feeling bad! He hurt and I was devastated. It took several drops of krazy glue to fix him...

Hi guys.
I checked in advance. This unit does not discharge. It grinds the stuff up and let's it on the ground. In the front are heavy swinging plate steel baffles. Seems pretty good, but I'm aware of the danger. Thanks.
I am establishing some boundaries. A chainsaw is involved. After that, it should be pretty to keep thinned.
Gary

When wielding chainsaws in pursuit of landscaping perfection, think "shooting lanes".

Will do.

Today, I met with my shop builder on site here. We measured and figured. Planned a couple of projects. He's gotten back to me with a CAD drawing of one. He's arranged for an excavation guy to be on site tomorrow or next day. He took a copy of the survey plat. We start soon.
Best not shoot around the builder guys.

I return for a truck load of the shop very soon. It's all happening at a fast pace.

Gary

That's great Gary! Sure sounds like it's shaping up nicely. It is especially nice that your family has been able to visit and make it YOURS so quickly. Have fun with the exploration of the areas amenities and folks.

Kent

Hi Kent,
We've been very, very pleased with the area. The people are so markedly more courteous and friendly and helpful, then up North. I was born and raised in Maryland. The norm now, is that you pass people in a store or parking lot, and 80% of them studiously avoid making eye contact. They certainly won't speak or smile. About 5% will walk right over you. Now here (and here is DeFuniak Springs, Florida BTW folks) about 80% or more, will not only acknowledge you, they will smile, and greet you pleasantly. "yes ma'am and yes sir" is part of my speech pattern. Here, it is also the norm. I'd say 98% of workers in the Lowes store and the Walmart Superstore,eak just go to any effort to be friendly, helpful, respectful, and enjoyable to be around. And they don't seem to just be processing store policy. They seem to seriously care that they can help you. It's such an amazing culture shock from Maryland.
The area is great. Route 10 is 70mph from Jacksonville to Los Angeles. I brushes the edge of DeFuniak Springs at exit 85. The town is pronounced "dee fhuu knee ack". French I believe. The center if town sports a natural lake that is one of two perfectly round lakes in the world. Around it is a park (yard) they call it, with a flat level path/walk exactly a mile or nearly so around. With trails peeling off and intersecting. It's beautiful. I intend to spend some mornings and evenings riding my bike there.
From our home, we drive 45mph excellent maintained roads thru pine, pastures of miniture donkey, horses. In 4.2 miles, said road turns right straight into the Walmart Supercenter without ever yet reaching the main highway thru town. To the left is our bank. Across the street is Lowes. Beside Lowes is a great family steak house with Wed. Night all you can eat all different kinds of shrimp for $9.95. Beside that is Waffle House. Across the street is Sonic and Burger King. Up the street is "Pig Daddy's" bar b que. Behind the lake is THE perfect diner ... Corner Cafe. Also "Ed's Burger", Ace Hardware, motels, stores, and dozens of other things are literally within 4 or 5 blocks. The country side around is littered with small businesses. The closest beach is 30 miles away, with quite a few major beaches within about 50-70 miles.
This week has been critical to take possession of the property, and network here. We are fully on site, and in process of multiple trips to transport goods down here.
It's gonna be really fine. And, I've been feeling very well. So far it's allowed me to get up earlier and stay up just as late. We shall see what pattern develops.
Thanks for your interest. We are doing all this to begin the next chapter.
We are very grateful for the opportunity.
Gary

Gary,

I'm glad the move is going well, I can't wait until I move farther north. Its still a few years off, but I can dream.

Remember, you now have to deal with hurricanes, so keep that in mind in your planning.

Keith

Thanks Keith.
Yes. The buildings are rated for 150 mph winds. Even the car port. There are two smaller sheds on site. Both have hurricane tie downs. Because the shop has a bathroom, small kitchen, and A/C; that qualifies as a home in Fla. That makes it legal for wind coverage. Quite a new set of rules to get used to.
Today, I has the general contractor back on site bat the same time, the excavation contractor was on site. At the same time, the previous owner came over ... to help
Identify where the septic systems and drain field are located, with piping. Previous owner didn't arrive before we had hand dug multiple trenches to find septic tanks (2) and drains in/out etc. Paper diagrams from files. Memory. Trenches. We found, naturally, that our and conflicted with the actual lay of the land and actual drain systems. Rework, rethink. That's one reason I've been here so long this time.
It finally came around today, to where detailed explanations of what I do were required. The looks were pretty much like those when you show your bud the live Yeti who lives in your garage.
So, it's been a string of busy days.
Gary

Wait! You didn't show them the yeti, did you?

I can't imagine there'd be questions about the 1/2 million BTU forge with the copper mask faceplate. Surely every Florida homestead has one!

-- Jim

A Yeti in the garage?!? Brilliant idea, I must get one for mine immediately! That way I can blame HIM for the fact that it's organized to the strict standards of "grenade rest". For those non-military types, that means that it looks pretty much like a bomb went off in there.

Why the gratuitous military reference, you ask? Well, it's because Gary has inadvertently (and apparently unknowingly) moved right into the backyard of the U.S Army's largest helicopter training base, known as Ft. Rucker, Alabama (Mother Rucker, to those in the know). Which, as it turns out, is right up the road (so to speak) in Dothan, Alabama. When the name DeFuniak Springs popped out, it was like the hot-tub time machine kicked in for a minute in my brain.

We used to go there on our instrument cross country flights in Hueys during one of the latter stages in the Army's helicopter flight school syllabus. Back when I was in training there, the FBO at the airport in DeFuniak went out of their way to make it a desirable destination to plan for on long cross-country flights. This was doubtless due to the fact that they made a good profit selling fuel to the Army's thirsty helicopters. From out point of view, it was the place where a golf cart always showed up even before the blades stopped turning bearing a cooler full of cold sodas, always driven by one of a number of attractive young ladies. The golf cart would whisk us back to their terminal where the air conditioning was set to "frostbite"; also a welcome sight when you're stuck wearing fireproof military coveralls in the southern heat and humidity. They'd keep a freezer stuffed with frozen burritos and ice-cream bars handy, so you could fuel up for the return trip. All in all, it was considered the lap of luxury by Army standards. Didn't take much to keep us occupied back then...just turn a couple of barely-trained 19-year olds loose in an old Huey with a government gas card. Keep the cold Dr. Peppers and the melting fudgsicles coming, and everybodys happy. As long as we didn't get lost on the way back home and the helicopter came home in one piece, we were golden.

So...when you start noticing how many olive-drab helicopters you see tooling around out there, there might just be a reason.

Hi Rotor,
We have seen/heard a number of choppers and some fighters. The sound of freedom. Most of the time, it's quiet (except for some old guy running a chainsaw and brushhog) haha.
Gary

Gary :

Congratulations on the move. The new homestead sounds wonderful. I'm positive you will find the winters much more appealing. And best of luck on the new shop. I hope you will post pics of its progress.

Karl