Horse Before House Part 1

If it hadn't been for Val, I would probably still be living in a tiny, low-lying, overpriced rental cottage, waiting for the next storm to come and flood me out again - frequently needing to negotiate several feet of seawater to get to my horse.

The paddock and run-in I leased for Val, was put on the market just a few months after we arrived. In the scramble to keep the only suitable horse-keeping spot available, I made a pie-in-the-sky offer on the property (owner financed + no down payment) and suddenly was the owner of 2.7 acres on a tiny destination island in the Atlantic Ocean.

Rent and mortgage being out of the question, next came the Shimmy Shack. She took her final journey to the farmette, providing me with a semi-comfortable, somewhat watertight home for the last eight years.

Fast forward to last January, and the house building journey began for real - plan chosen, builder interviewed, contract written, construction loan secured, site cleared. After some serious number crunching - I bit the bullet, committing to be the painting contractor - which I can confirm, is much easier in the theoretical phase of the house building project lol.

Doing anything equestrian-related beyond caring for my horse, (much less creating blog-worthy horse content) was simply out of the question in 2018. It feels like the year passed in the blink of an eye. I was pretty good about documenting the process photographically, so hopefully the pics will help me share my review of the Year of the Unicorn...