Second chance, special purchases, Victoria, busy week

Mama got a text on Thursday that the seller of the property in Alvord on which we had been out bid is now looking for backup offers. The buyer that won the initial bid and contract is having difficulty getting financing together – land with mobile homes are very difficult for conventional banks to finance. I had told Mama when we heard that we had been outbid that the seller may regret his hasty acceptance of their offer; but that was only speculation on my part.

Mama and I now have an approved backup offer in the hands of the seller. We are waiting for the seller to terminate the contract of the initial buyer so we can step in and purchase the property. Financing should not be an issue. We visited with the banker we have been talking to in Denton on Friday and when I asked him what more he needed from me and Mama he said he needed to know what we were buying and how much money we needed to do so.

Mama is trying not to get excited over the prospect of actually buying this property. So far she is doing a pretty good job of holding everything in. For my part, I am planning layouts for the pig building, the chicken coop, the sheep pen and fence lines to separate the pasture between the horses and the cows.

If we, for some reason, do not get to buy the property I will have wasted no time in the planning since it will help me practice for the actual purchase and work that follows. But if we do get the property I will be that much farther ahead on getting things set up.

Friday I took the day off so Mama and I could meet with the banker in Denton and get some shopping done. Costco and Ikea were two of the stops on our list following our meeting in Denton. I was not planning on making an iPad Air purchase at Costco but they had it on sale for the best price Mama and I have seen yet. We have been talking about getting one for some time and Friday seemed to be the right time. We are still figuring out exactly how to use it.

Victoria was sick all day yesterday. I think the cough was somewhat worsened by her helping Mama clean out the chicken coop. We all worked together on it late Saturday afternoon. The two of them worked inside the coop (both were wearing dust masks) while I shuttled the collected waste in the bucket of the tractor and dumped it over the fence into the compost pile we have in the meadow. Her cough had been gaining a foothold through the week but Sunday morning it was finally full force.

This week at work is going to start off with a bang. We have high profile visitors coming in today and staying through tomorrow. I will have to attend a dinner to say goodbye to my current boss this evening and will probably not get home until after 9 pm. Tomorrow, the same group of visitors will go to the field here and look at a couple special project we are piloting in the area. Following that tour our operations group will go to Amarillo for a set of meetings that will end Friday evening.

After being the center of attention for two days the office will be quite empty for the rest of the week. I do not plan on getting any work done until Wednesday.