The Time We Lost our Damn Minds

On the day that changed everything, we drove down the dirt road in silence, a heaviness between us as our minds whirled. How could we buy this land that was too far, too expensive, and too f-ing big?

More importantly, how was I going to convince Chad that buying this wild, neglected land was not only great for our mental health, but also a smart financial move. In marriage, it seems, big decisions are often made with a 70/30 buy in or maybe 60/40 if you’re lucky, or 50/50 if you’re an over achiever. Well, for the first time in our almost 30 years together, we were equally aligned in our enthusiasm. It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced before. I was accustomed to mounting an intricate campaign of persuasion, coaxing him along until he eventually succumbed. Operation “Buy a Ranch” required zero effort, in fact, the man was more on board than I was.

With the agility of Olympic-level Jenga athletes, we sorted how we could swing it, and within days of that fateful October afternoon, we made an offer. And then waited. And waited. And waited some more. And finally, after more than a month of negotiation, settled on the particulars and opened escrow.

Buying land isn’t really any different than buying a house. Instead of an inspector crawling through an attic, we had a guy test the well and water tank. Both in great shape. Phew! Wells and water, in general, are a BIG deal in rural areas. We also strategized how to attack the immediate needs of the property - removing unsightly and dangerous structures, tree maintenance, fence repair, debris clean up, weed abatement (eleventy million varieties of thistle), and so. much. more.

The County would allow us to build two residences of any size, a guest house, an ADU, and any number of outbuildings. An abundance of opportunity, and a far cry from the glorified lean-to that had been the genesis of this whole undertaking. It also gave me the freedom to dream without boundaries, cloud talking into the night about all the possibilities.

this or that?

We inched along through each day of escrow burning with anticipation, and brainstormed names for the ranch? farm? acres? After much debate over everything from the ridiculous to the profane, we settled on Hummingbird Ranch, a celebration of our love of hummingbirds and the ranchy-ness of the cow friends who shared the land with us.

On February 1, we unlocked the gates and stepped onto Hummingbird Ranch as owners, our Green Acres ignorance masked with false Yellowstone bravado.