Budget! How much of what I want to do can I do before the townhouse is sold? My sons swear that I have a DNA strand (that I passed on) which forces me to make over a house — any house. So, the new house is now squarely in my sights. The fencing must be completed before we move in, and the drywall re-do and flooring must be accomplished before we move in. I’m replacing the sliding glass door to the patio with a French door (that’s a lark — not necessary, but I love the look). All the window coverings must go. They are original and in really bad shape. I don’t know what I’ll replace them with and probably won’t decide until the drywall and flooring are done. I need to get back down there and take room by room photos before any construction/make-over begins.
The back 2/3 of the acre must be scraped — it’s just weeds and discarded “stuff”. There is one decent tree near the house that will stay, but everything else goes into a dump truck and away. (This must occur before the fencing is completed so we don’t damage the fencing). New Mexico is famous for its sand storms, so I can’t leave the land bare. I turned to my search engine (I use Dogpile) and found native wildflower and grass seed. In October, I’ll have a tractor come through and till the back-40, then blanket it with about $600 worth of seeds. The dogs and I will then demonstrate the Welsh version of a rain dance so the seeds take hold. Hopefully, from next spring into the late fall — and forever after, the back part of the property will be blanketed with native wildflowers and grasses.
Once the townhouse closes, I will build a 2+ car garage. It will be extra long so that in the back 12′ I can have a walk way and four small 6′ x 6′ indoor homes for the dogs, each extending into a 6′ x 10′ covered outdoor run. I’m going to use the rock base, gravel layer, sand layer, paver top method. Although the baddogs are house dogs, there are times (like last week when I was moving the office) that having runs in which they could spend a day would have saved us all a great deal of grief and money. The garage/runs will be on the side of the house next to the vacant acre. I’m going to take an option on that acre. Perhaps I can prevent anyone from ever living on that side. Behind the house is ranchland — so no one will be living there, and on the north side, the neighbor has placed his home nearer the main road than my property (that gives me shivers — “my property”). We should not be annoying or disturbing anyone when the plan comes together.
The other project I’m hoping to fit into the budget is to cover the back patio and surround the patio and some of the yard with a privacy fence. That will have landscaping, a fountain, and be the place to spend evenings watching spectacular New Mexico sunsets. I’m hoping some of you will come enjoy them with me from time to time.
