So You Want To Build a House

When I made the decision to move back to the region full-time from Texas, I was torn.  Should I be practical and buy a townhouse in Fargo or Moorhead where I didn't have the upkeep to worry about?  Or how about an old farmhouse in the country, where I could admire the architecture of the house but would have to deal with ancient plumbing and electrical?

In the end, I let my dream be my guide.  My dream was pretty simple.  I wanted a house in the woods with backyard chickens and a big garden.  The chickens narrowed the field a lot after I did some homework.  Dallas and Fort Worth Texas both allow backyard chickens in the city limits, so I assumed that the small town I was leaning towards settling in (Detroit Lakes) would too.  One call to the courthouse told me that no, chickens were not allowed in the city, or in the entire county for that matter, unless the property was zoned agricultural.  My views on that can be another blog post entirely.

I kept looking.  The 2-acres just outside of town were great, but it was zoned residential.  And then I happened on a 5-acre, mostly wooded plot 5 minutes outside of town.  Mature maple, oak, birch, and aspen grew on rolling hills, and wild raspberries were thick.  And the best part?  It was zoned agricultural, so chickens were possible.

I decided to build my dream home.  Little did I know what I was getting into.  So if you decide to build, keep these thoughts in mind.

Do you have a plan?  If you live in a metropolitan area, your builder probably has stock plans to choose from.  My builder was completely custom, meaning if I drew something on the back of a napkin, he'd build it.  Are you thinking about a one story house?  Two story?  Multi-level?  There are lots of free house plans on the internet to get you started.

How confident are you when it comes to design?  In my case, I was responsible for choosing everything that went into and on my house.  Everything.  The color, style, materials of the siding and the roof; do I want a pillar in the entryway?  What flooring - tile, wood, carpet, cork?  What style doors?  Painted or natural wood?  And don't forget the door knobs, light fixtures, countertops, kitchen design, and even where should electrical outlets be.  If you don't feel confident, you'll end up with a nice house, but probably a little on the safe side.  Hire an interior designer if you're unsure.

What's your budget?  The cost that a builder will give you up front is very likely to increase as the project goes on.  For example, halfway through the project I decided to go with geothermal for my heating and cooling.  It's a proven technology, saves about a third of your costs for the rest of your life, and there's a nice federal tax credit for it this year.  But it added $44,000 to my budget!  I'm getting about a third of that back on my taxes this year, but it's still a big number.  Make sure that you're working with a bank that can tell you up front what you qualify for, and try to put at least 20% down to avoid Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).

In the end, I'm happy with what I did.  I wish I would have opted for tankless water heaters, since it takes a few minutes to get hot water to the other end of the house, but that's a small detail.  I have a killer view from my home office of the woods, where big fluffy snowflakes are right now floating through the aspen branches.  And this spring I'll work on the chickens and the garden part of my dream.

 

 

 

 

 

The Straight Poop on Cat Litter

So you want a cat, or have a cat.  You know that you need litter boxes, but what kind?  How many?  And what's the best cat litter to use?  From my 25 + years of having cats, I've tried them all.

Let's start with the litter box itself.  Should you get a covered or uncovered box?  It seems that a covered box will help with odor control, right?  Maybe, but it also traps odors inside the box, which makes it less likely that your picky feline will want to use it.  A cat's sense of smell is about 14 times as strong as a humans, so if you can smell the litter, imagine how your cat feels.  The rule of thumb for how many litter boxes you need is one for each cat, plus one extra. Some cats are finicky enough that they want their own box, or some will use one box for urine and another for poop. Of course, those with space constraints might not be able to have multiple boxes, so if you can't, just make sure that the box is kept really clean to avoid your kitties from finding other spots in your house to do their business.

 

Along the same lines, it seems counterintuitive to use unscented litter if you want to control odor, but unscented is the way to go.  Scented litter tends to waft throughout the house, and everyone will know you have a litter box.  Cat litter manufacturers want you to buy the scented stuff; sometimes it's hard to find the unscented in the store, but from personal experience, it's worth it.  As long as you keep the litter scooped at least once a day, no one needs to know that you have cats as soon as soon as they walk in the door.

And for goodness sake, spend a little more and get the clumping litter.  Yes, I know that the clay litter is cheaper, but in my opinion it's not worth it.  It's what most people donate to The Marshmallow Foundation and it's dusty, smelly, and a mess to work with.  And we end up adding baking soda to it anyway to try to control the odor.  Plus, with clay litter, you'll end up having to do a complete clean out of the box much more often than with clumping litter.

So for a happy, healthy cat, do make sure that you provide the best possible environment for them; you'll be rewarded with head bumps and kitty kisses for years to come!

 

 

 

 

 

Moving On

2016 will be off to a good start, with the move to my new home on the 1st.  My family has been very generous with their offers of help, and I actually found movers that will work on a holiday, so all is good.

I feel like one of those people that are on a home makeover show - 2 more days until the reveal.  There's still work to be done next week, but the house will be livable Friday.

I'm proud of myself.  There, I said it.  I'm proud that I made it through an incredibly horrid year.  I'm proud of the design decisions I made for my new home.  I'm proud of the work I've done volunteering for the local animal shelter.  And I'm proud of the fact that I continue to do things all by myself.

Not that I haven't had help.  Let's start with the bottomless gratitude I have to my brother and sister-in-law, who not only let me live with them for 2 1/2 months, but allowed me to bring two kittens along for the ride.  And the countless workers that made my dream home a reality.  And the small town bank that financed that dream without a cent down, trusting that I would get the money eventually.  My real estate agent in Texas, who doggedly pursued every offer all the way through her pregnancy and childbirth.  My big brother who handled all the details of selling my Mom's house, saving us a huge amount of money.

So here's to a new year, a new life, and some peace and quiet in my little house in the woods,

Fostering Saves Lives

 Meet Meep.  She is the poster child for why animal fostering is so important.

Upper Respiratory Infections (URIs) tend to thrive in shelters.  A URI to a healthy adult cat is like a cold; some are worse than others, but rarely fatal.  To a kitten, however, a URI is bad news.  For Meep it meant losing most of the vision in one eye, and stunted growth.  She weighs less than 2 pounds at 7 months of age.

Meep was special to all the workers and volunteers at The Marshmallow Foundation.  And when I started volunteering there she won my heart too.  Meep is the sloth of the kitten world - she doesn't move very fast, and would prefer to sleep upside down in the crook of someone's arm when possible.  I think she's at least part Ragdoll, which accounts for why she goes limp when picked up, although she doesn't have the characteristic blue eyes of a Ragdoll.

I wanted very badly to adopt Meep, but had already pushed the boundaries by adopting Maggie and Leo when still (temporarily) living with my brother and sister-in-law.  Would Meep survive until I moved into my forever home?  Poor Yunger didn't make it through the latest outbreak of URI, and he was much healthier than Meep to begin with.

Enter Cassi, a full-time employee at The Marshmallow Foundation.  Cassi is one of those unsung heroes that you don't hear much about because she prefers it that way.  When an animal has to be put down, Cassi is the one holding them until they pass. When Yunger was failing, Cassi was the one that reached out to try and find a rescue group that could help him.

Cassi knew that Meep wouldn't make it if she had to continue living at the shelter.  Her immune system was too compromised by endless rounds of antibiotics and illness.  The foster families were already full, so Cassi reached out to her mother for help.  If Meep were to have a fighting chance, she needed a quiet, safe environment with lots of tender loving care.  Cassi's Mom took Meep in with no questions asked, and provided me with regular updates on her progress.

One day while chatting with Cassi, I asked where her Mom lived.  Knowing that I probably wouldn't know where it was, Cassi told me it was a gravel road off of Highway 54 just outside of Detroit Lakes.  In one of those rare moments of synchronicity, I laughed and said that my new home was on that very same road.  Cassi lit up - her Mom and I were neighbors!

I'll be moving in to my new home very soon, and Meep will move in shortly after that.  I'll have to retrain her thinking a bit, since she's apparently a Vikings fan, but nobody's perfect.

Thank God 2015 Is Almost Done!

Experts say that some of the most stressful life events include moving and death.  In 2015, I moved or will move (I have one more to go) three times.  My much loved cat Gracie died.  And lets not talk about the trauma over selling my house in Texas, selling my Mom's house, and building a new house from scratch!

My Texas home finally closed, and the money has been transferred to my new mortgage.  Mom's house closed Tuesday, but there's a new North Dakota law that says that the buyer gets three days to back out of the deal, so our checks won't be mailed to us until Monday.  Some of that money will go to my new mortgage, as well as paying off debt so I can afford the new mortgage payment.

We were shooting for before Christmas to move in to my new house, but that's not going to happen now.  Soon after though I hope.  I'm hoping this will be the last move of my life.

So two houses sold this year, one house built, and two kittens adopted (so far; another one is in foster care just waiting for me to move into my new house) that bring me great joy.  I've started writing a new blog for the local online newspapers, and have been volunteering on average 4 hours a week at the animal shelter.  The Wellbutrin I asked for to combat my seasonal depression is working great, and my Christmas shopping is all done.

So here's to 2016 and a new start.  Things are definitely looking up for this girl!

Puppy Mills? Not Here, Right?

Did you know that 2 of the worst puppy mills in the United States are located just outside of  Detroit Lakes?  Both are licensed and inspected by the USDA, and both have been allowed to operate for years, even though the conditions there have been shown to be unsafe, unclean, and worst of all, cruel.  The very animals that are meant to become part of our family are raised like livestock, with no thought for their welfare, only the money made.

So the next time you decide to go to a pet store or shop online for a dog, do some research first.  Ask where that dog came from.  There are pet stores that don't buy from puppy mills and only have shelter pets; examples include PetSmart in Fargo, or Best Pets in Detroit Lakes.

If you want to help shut down Renner's Kennel and Michelle Sonnenberg's Kennel, a Facebook page has been created with more details.

So this holiday season, adopt, don't shop.  Go straight to the rescues or shelters.  4 Luv of Dog or Diamond in the Ruff are local dog rescues to start with.  And of course, come to The Marshmallow Foundation to check out the dogs AND cats this holiday season.  There's an adoption special for cats until December 31st of $30 for an altered cat and $50 for an un-altered cat, with $20 refunded once you provide proof of spay or neuter.

And No Religion Too

John Lennon's song "Imagine" tends to be played after major world events including this years terrorist shootings in Paris.

So imagine for a moment that no religion existed in the world.  I define religion not as a belief in God, but belief that one must follow a certain set of rules or beliefs to please God or earn your reward.

So imagine a world where spirituality was individual; one could believe in God or not, Gods and Goddesses or not, and it didn't matter what name we called the creator of the universe.  There would be no bible, no Quran, no Torah telling us what to believe.  We'd all admit that none of us have the slightest idea how we came to be and what/if there was a life after this one.

And perhaps most importantly, there would be no need to hate others who had a slightly different set of beliefs from you.

When I was a young adult, I learned in school that the Ku Klux Klan originally targeted Jews, blacks and Catholics.  As I pondered that on the school bus ride home, I realized that if I had been born just 40 years earlier I might have been subject to cross burnings in my yard or worse.  That moment was a defining one for me.  Like others brought up in the Catholic faith, I was taught that ours was the one true religion, superior to all others.  I never imagined that we would be persecuted simply because our membership dues went to the Catholic church.

What's happening in the world today is nothing new at all.  The victims of the persecution just rotate, waiting their turn.  The Salem witch trials, the Catholic Inquisition, the Holocaust, the Crusades; all are historical titles given to times in our past where religion inspired torture and mass killings.

If we could get over the fear of death, perhaps religion wouldn't take such a central point in our lives.  Because in the end, hate is fear, isn't it?  The hate speech in the news these days has nothing to do with facts, but fear.  And if we spend our lives in fear, what kind of life is that?