Little house or the whole enchilada in Bear lake MI

ponygirl1 · May 22, 2013, 11:45:10 AM

This is the Ponygirl and Her retired airman starting out here. We are coming home after being away due to the USAF. His home any way. Mine is in PA but we want peace, quiet and a little autonomy. His uncle passed away a few weeks ago. Which caused my father in law to want us closer .
We bought our plans last fall but getting the land had proved difficult until recently. We have been blessed with 11.85, acres a Ford farm tractor , a 22ft deep well power boat and an old F350. I thank my sweet father inlaw for all this help. This will help us and all the eldars folks in both our families (along with 12 eldarly horses that belong to my folks).
WE are beginig the arduous task of pricing all this out. We are building with no mortagage, only the money I make at my job. It will be rough but I an starting to see a way to make things happen. I have had alot of help from someone on the forum and It want to thank him for his kindness too.

NavyDave · May 22, 2013, 01:20:31 PM

Hello Ponygirl and family! All you've mentioned is very doable....not easy but doable. I am in a similar situation, having retired from the military a little over a year ago we decided to buy some property and build a homestead in East Tennessee. We also have a Ford tractor and it's been invaluable (with the brush hog attachement) keeping the property cleaned up and the bugs down to a minimum. There's definitely a wealth of info and a desire to help on this website. Use all of your resources wisely and sweat a lot and you'll build something that you're proud of. I'm excited to follow your progress.

May 23, 2013, 12:12:50 PM

Welcome ponygirl

We built our cabin in Bear Lake too, just off of Healy Lake Rd - http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9282.0

Please thank your husband for his service. Our son is also in the airforce and we couldn't be more proud of him.

We wish you all the best with your cabin build and look forward to watching your progress

ponygirl1 · May 30, 2013, 11:28:54 AM

Thank you both! This little house will heal many wounds caused by distance, war and our prior spouses. W both have lost so much to others that when we met we didnt know if it would work. This project has made us stronger as a couple, even though We are the best of buddies. We never thought we would find another person who wanted to spend life free and independent then we found each other. W are excited to be moving to the bear lake. Bradley spent his child hood there. This was a dream of his and I agree. W are so excited.
Today has been a great buying day. We got our land contract in the mail signed sealed and delivered. I have given Brad a lesson in what things cost IE windows and doors. My friend Joyce runs our local Habitat restore. I just bought Pella windows for the back porch window wall enclosure, a front door solid wood with glass side lights pre hung and six huge windows for the house including a smaller double hung windows for the loft, 300.00. Thee are great newer windows some brand new in the plastic. I am no snob so me saving 3000.oo on windows is huge. I don't care if they are preowned or not. We are building countertops ourselves out of maple flitches which we can get milled locally. We are buying things in Delaware as much as possible to save on sales tax,since there is none.
I agree wth Navy Davey a bush hog is indespensible. If you live in Bear lake we cannot wait to meet with you. We need all the help we can get. thank you all.

ponygirl1 · May 31, 2013, 06:21:50 PM

Our land Perks...yay. I hope it perks where we want to build though...just happy it perks. WHEW. I hope to post pictures of the lot soon. I talked to our seller today. He has an apple orchard next door I am hoping he will lease it to us so we can use it to ride horses on or hunt deer. Brad asked me how high an observation tower I want at the back of the property. I am planning to use it to do paintings as a studio space, set up our telescope to gaze out at the stars and lastly as a deer stand. Hans and Franz the ten point buck brothers will have no shot next fall!
Did I say I am going to school to get my Art therapy degree?
We are hoping to use this as a retreat spot for Vets with PTSD. A quiet place to work on PTSD and make art too. FAmily is very happy about all this. Every one on the forum is great. I have lots of great ideas now. Thanks guys.

June 05, 2013, 10:32:14 AM

Trying to post a picture..sadly not having much luck.

ponygirl1 · June 07, 2013, 04:54:53 PM

My neighbor is a retired contracter. We have volunteer help now from someone who is a professional in construction. Yay. I feel a little better now. Things are moving along. We have a set of french doors for the master bedroom to the porch. Slowly but surely we move. Have all the windows now too.

ponygirl1 · July 10, 2013, 06:01:14 PM

I will be in Bear lake to finally get pictures to post so everyone can see the land finally. I have been busy so has my airman. He got his first civillian job to help pay for our cabin. Yay. I am looking at every option. stay posted.

ponygirl1 · October 21, 2013, 08:34:34 AM

Score for us. We now have pictures to post on the forum of our land. It backs up to heavy state forest with nice groomed trails. This is great for horses. We wanted to tell everyone on the forum that Lumber liquidators has a great sale where all the odd lots and small boxes of wood are 1.00 per square foot! we bought 807 square feet for 807.00. Mostly 5" wide cherry boards and some maple same width. The oak we got was simular. We are going to be doing patterned wood floors to best use the eclectic mix of colors and types of wood. On a sadder note my airman has cancer again. We want to get to our land as soon as we can.