(Mentally) Regrouping

Well, after the news that my Darlin' Man may be heading back to Iraq, we have had to mentally regroup and shift some plans around.
The consensus is that we would be better off establishing ourselves on property in Vermont while he is away.
Even the Girl, who will be a senior next year, has enthusiastically agreed we should move...and the sooner, the better! (She somewhat hates the schools here..they teach to ALL students as if English was their second language, which for 90% of the students is true) Girl, Boy and I looked online and checked out the schools in the district we think we are moving to, and they were very pleased. The entire student body of the local high school is one tenth of the size of the student body here. No football team...but they have skiing teams for boys and girls--J.V. and Varsity. Soccer and baseball and hockey as well. Basketball teams for boys and girls, too. Since it is a rural area, they have almost 100% participation in 4-H! We also checked SAT scores, etc and the school is very solid academically with over 50% of graduating seniors going on to college, university or technical schools.

I contacted a realtor I found up there. He mainly works as a buyers agent. The way it works is I gave him all the *must haves* for property we are looking for and he goes through all the MLS listings to find a property that meets our needs. He sends me the information on all the properties that the Darlin' Man and I think are within our budget and meet our needs. We look over all the info (photos, plat maps, google maps/views, listing info, deeds, tax papers, etc) and decide which properties we will consider. When time comes to buy, the buyers agent will negotiate the best price for us and handle all the paperwork.
The *Must Haves* for us?
Minimum of 5 acres
Water source on property, preferably more than one...a drilled well AND a brook or spring AND a stream, etc.
Electricity already to or on property. (anybody that ever has had to have electricity brought to their property knows why we put this down!)
No restrictions on livestock, etc.
We also gave him a price cap. Actually two price caps---one for bare land, one for land with a home on it.

We have been pleasantly surprised that in our area of choice, the realtor has been able to find around a dozen properties that meet our needs.
So, we are winnowing through all the properties and cutting our choices down to 5 or 6. One of us will go up to Vermont in June and make the final decision.

In the meantime, we are waiting for the final word on whether or not the Darlin' Mans orders for deployment are 100%. Right now, he still has a 10% chance of staying stateside, but like I said, nobody here is holding their breath over that. We should find out Friday. So, Army life being what it is, the old adage of "Hurry up and wait!" really applies in this situation!
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Today I am making cheese from our goat's milk. I started this morning and the milk made a lovely curd that I have been draining almost all day. Tonight I will be salting the drained curd and making some feta cheese and some hard cheese that I will put in a maleshift cheese press. Will let y'all know how that goes!
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I intend to keep posting throughout the moving process here...since we have 3 cars, 7 goats, 2 children, 11 chickens, 2 dogs and all our worldly possessions...should be a fun time!

Life....Intervenes....

Well, my posting schedule for this blog has officially been trashed! So many things happening that a regular schedule is now impossible.
The Darlin' Man has been informed that he will be deployed in August of this year to Iraq. He IS fighting it and trying to stay stateside, but it is 90% certain he will have to go.
We must take the attitude that he will be going and prepare for that likelihood.
So, our next decision is: Where do the kids and I stay or go to during said deployment?
We can stay here...no family members nearby, but the base is here with all the advantages that provides.
We can move to Vermont---where we planned to retire to anyway, and rent, lease to own or buy property/a house.Also, the Darlin' Man has family there.
We can move to some other area of the country where he or I have family near-by.
We discussed it with the kids (they are 17 and 15) to get their imput and discussed it with each other.
The consensus is that Vermont will probably be our best bet.
So, I am currently conducting a long distance real estate search in a specific area of Vermont trying to find a place for us to move to.
We have very specific parameters for each scenario:
If we lease to own or buy, the property MUST have:
10+ acres
Water (spring, drilled well already in place, year round stream/brook)
Be suitable for organic gardening and livestock raising.
No HOAs, restrictions, etc on property.

If we rent the property MUST have:
No HOAs, restrictions
Must allow pets
Have a garden space
3+ bedrooms

We may be able to buy land and just drop a mobile home or modular home on it. We'll build our dream home after the fella gets back. In the meantime (in this scenario), I can build outbuildings, get some chickens and maybe a couple of pigs

I have already identified a few properties and contacted some local Realtors in Vermont to make inquiries.
The kids have taken an interest in the areas we sowed them and are checking out local schools, local recreational activities, etc.
So, now you know why I have been absent from my blog and what I have been doing!
Our timeline on this will be VERY tight. The Darlin' Man finds out within the next week if he will be deployed (absolute 100% certainty). We are hoping for the 10% chance he'll be able to stay stateside this round, but not holding our collective breath here. This is not his first deployment, so he knows the odds.
When he finds out, all arrangements and the move will have to be completed by the second week in August!
I will try to keep up on posting here, and let my readers know if the deployment becomes set in stone. I'll be posting about the strange journey it is to find real estate long distance...how we will decide on a place (probably sight unseen---eek!) and the logistics of moving...and the move will include our preps and most likely at least one goat! (Oh, won't that be fun!?!?)