Calling Doctor Dolittle?

Ostriches, Chickens and Emus...OH MY!!
The transformation of Buttonwood, if you recall, went a little like this:  One burned house + lots of sweat + lots of time + much sacrifice = The Transformation!

      

But every journey begins, as they say, with a single step, which in our case was removal of the burned ruins to expose that valuable "Monolthic" foundation.

Many steps (and years) later, the metamorphosis is very nearly complete:

 

But before we get ahead of ourselves, I promised you a walk on the wild side!
                                                    
                                                       Wild Thing, I think you move me.
                                                        (But I wanna know for sure.)

Spoiled pussycats?  Of course, we have 'em.  (Four indoor cats, for whom life is safe and predictable, with plenty of photo ops!)

Our dog (a Rottweiler mix) is our Prairie Home Companion:

Pretty ordinary pets--downright domestic--I'll admit.  But all wasn't always so quiet on the western (Florida) front, we soon found out.  The natives (and their exotic pets) seemed to be restless. 

Tell me, does this look like a housebroken cow?  Did anyone remember to feed the fish?

              

           

Most people's neighbors sell insurance or Avon. Ours traded in ostriches and emus. What, no pink flamingos?  Sand hill cranes!

Mighty tortoises from tiny turtles grow.

            

What true farm doesn't have geese? Not Canadian geese...farm geese! Big, white, German geese!

"Embden Goslings For Sale"

Another 'for sale' sign again sealed our fate.  We bought a few chicks, started raising these headstrong birds and we've had generations of them in our family ever since.

                     

Red Bull gives you wings!

But very close by lurks yet another sweet, furry creature:

 

We "adopted" Shylock the Fox, a/k/a Jeff Foxworthy, (or I should say he adopted us) a few years ago.  He and "the wife and two kits" live in a foxhole in our backyard.  He has a strict policy about food.  I cook him a chicken a night, or my geese will be on the menu.  Luckily a chained link goose coop helps us to maintain our agreement.


Well, I've given you a little insight into where the wild things are at Buttonwood.  But I'll save the wildest creature for next time:  

THE AMAZING, FANTASTIC, EPIC, 

AWESOME NINJA GOATS!

I'll leave you with this philosophy: Why do we put up with these unruly, thankless, disrespectful beasts?  

"It's like relationships, you know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd but I guess we keep going through it because most of us, well...we need the eggs." ~Annie Hall

NEXT WEEK:   THE AMAZING, FANTASTIC, EPIC, AWESOME NINJA GOATS!

Goin' Up the Country!

"This place looks like Woodstock!" my wife observed as we crossed the bridge into the woods.  Indeed, the area had the rolling hills and grassy pastures of that now-mythical place.  A "for sale" sign on a dead-end dirt road was the stroke of  luck that brought us to this little hamlet in Florida by a natural cold spring, about an hour's drive from the city.  We're regular folks and never thought we'd ever have a house of our own (let alone be so pretentious as to actually give a name to a house!)  Here's the story of The Making of Buttonwood.  

"I'M TRAPPED IN THE MOVIE REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM!"
We're at the end of a dirt road and suddenly:

Is this the "Serendipity Plain"? Jurassic Park? Or has my inner eight-year old died and gone to heaven?



Hey, it has out-buildings!  They're good, right?


This is called a "Pole Barn:"  Evidently, it comes with it's own beach.

I'm guessing this is the pump house, the fruit cellar, or just an ordinary garden shed?  (Actually, it's a smokehouse.) (Wow, the Spanish Moss has Spanish Moss around here.)

This is the pump house (More about the geese later)

But then we looked further and saw that there was...the whole issue of THIS...

THE REMNANTS OF SOMEONE'S BURNED HOUSE!  A HOUSE'S CHARRED DREAMS!

"Was it accidental or something more ponderous?", we pondered...(Turns out the house was tied up in divorce court, holding up our land negotiations for some time.)

The previous owners had a chicken coop

installed on the side of the house.  No 

doubt a small family business.

So it began.  The making of Buttonwood.

Your location is where your journey begins.  It is THE most important factor in a house. How far the neighbors are can make or break your quality of life.  Finding land at the end of a road that is isolated has many advantages and is desirable, but unfortunately they are not plentiful in standard listings.  Drive around the area you like.  We were lucky to happen upon the turned-around signpost in the road...

We were also lucky to find a five-acre parcel with a "burn-out" with a concrete slab which minimized/eliminated our impact fees.  The "replacement of an existing structure" allowance restores the tax base and becomes a loophole to the burdensome impact fees (up to $4,800 in some Florida counties) that are assessed to the new home builders. 

How fortunate that we were at this cold spring town and came upon an area that looked as natural as when the Native Americans called it home.  The house was burned to the ground, yes, BUT with a concrete "Monolithic‑style" poured foundation.  The existing water well, two septic tanks and, of course, those groovy "out-buildings" sweetened the deal (i.e., one small concrete structure slated to be a smokehouse was, well, smokin', and the pole barn was in fine shape.)  This secluded bit of heaven was a bike ride's distance away from shopping centers, restaurants and movie theaters.

We put $1,000 down the next day.

Next Time:  Where The Wild Things Are!  Plus: a peek at the finished interior...