It Started

It really all started in 2006. We needed to move for financial reasons.  My husband takes me to his property in Casa Grande.  We drove for over an hour until we get to the desert.  Literally.  There was no road, no water, and no electricity.  I cried all the way home.  My husband says it will be ok, things will work out.  The contracting company moves the house (manufactured) and installed on the lot. But, there is always a but.  The money ran out. Still no road, water or electricity.  I cried again.  We borrowed the money that the contractors said we needed.  So We borrowed money from family to run electric lines.  Still no road and no water.  We buy water tanks and haul water from a nearby city, 45 minutes away.  Still no road.  I cried.  So here we are.  In the Desert.  Hauling water, 4 wheel driving.  Time to enroll the children in school.  I go to the district office.  Guess what?  Our property doesn't belong to any school we have to create a pocket that your address will belong to.  WHAT!  Our children have to ride a bus for over an hour to travel around a mountain, on a freeway just to go to a sub par school .  This school was so bad our oldest son chooses to move in with my parents, his grandparents, to return to my hometown school.  My youngest son gets bullied so badly  he eventually retaliates and gets expelled.  We home schooled him until high school.  He now lives at my sisters house where he attends the local high school there.  I cried some more.  Throughout all these years I think I will never get the dust out of my house.   NOW...... on to 2009.  My husband was a mason (brick layer) by trade for over sixteen years.  When the housing market dropped so did the construction market.  First he lost benefits, then pay, then finally he was laid off.  Times were hard. Thankfully I had a job.  So remember, here we are in the desert; no roads, no water, but we have land.  Lots of land.  I am always thinking about whats next.   Our oldest son came home and our youngest son was home on the weekends.  We couldn't keep food in the house.  So we have land and can haul water.  Lightbulb popping.  I can raise animals for meat and dairy.  I can grow a garden for produce.