°º° Opalescent Acres °º°

[Pearl]

Opalescent Acres

Home of the rare pearl North African Barb.

Directory
The Beginning
(Will fill this in when there's stuff to put here.)


I would greatly appreciate it if others would refrain from posting here. I can't actually stop you, but I would really like to keep this clean. Thank you for understanding.

[Pearl]

The Beginning

Luke-warm air blasted my face as it spewed forth from my beat-up truck's struggling air conditioning system. The temperature gauge on my dash had crept slowly but inevitably toward the large red 'H' as the day had crept on, sweltering beneath the unforgiving sun. A cloud of dust obscured my view of the road in front of me. The realtor had turned off of the main road about half of a kilometer back and my truck had reluctantly followed, whining as it bounced over the gravel track.

I peered forward over the steering wheel, struggling to make out the back of the realtor's SUV. I jerked upright and barely stopped myself from slamming on the brakes when the tail lights lit up the cloud, their red glow almost flame-like in the murk. The SUV came to a stop in front of me and I pulled my truck up behind it.

Luckily it did not take long for the dust to begin to settle. I began to catch glimpses of the parched land around me - scraggly trees and grayish clumps of grass standing out against craggy boulders and a cracked, dry, clay-colored river bed. We had stopped the cars at the top of a small hill, looking down upon the property that the realtor had talked up to me all morning.

The property was in little better shape than the land around it. A small building that had once been a farmhouse squatted next to us at the top of the hill, darker than the land around it and slightly more brown than gray. One of the front windows was broken, glass littering the splintered planks of what had once been a rather nice wrap-around deck, and a large section of shingles was missing from the noticeably sagging roof. Down the hill stood a barn that was both larger and in slightly better condition than the house, though I still would not have trusted its integrity. Around the barn were broken fence lines. Here and there a section of fence stood tall amidst the scattered and broken boards, but even these standing boards were rotten and broken. The entire place screamed of neglect and abandonment.

I opened the door of my truck and stepped out onto the gravel drive. Ahead of me the realtor was doing the same, smiling widely at me and gesturing vaguely to the wide open spaces.

"What did I tell you? More land than one person could possibly need!"

It seemed to true enough. The fence lines of the farthest pastures stretched well beyond my range of vision. I turned to look at the house, taking note of the patches of missing siding that I'd missed before.

"You said that the house wasn't a total write-off?"

A look of mild concern flashed across the realtor's face but was quickly replaced with the vague, pleasant smile that had sat there all morning. "It certainly needs a lot of work to be live-able, but our consultant said that the foundation is still good and that many of the supporting walls are still serviceable."

I nodded, walking around behind my truck to get a look at the side of the house. Another broken window greeted me, a strip of tattered and faded curtain hanging from one of the remaining shards. The realtor followed as I continued around to the back of the house. The back door was open and hanging off of its hinges. I tried to gingerly step up onto the porch to look inside, but retreated when the wood creaked dangerously.

"Any evidence of vandalism?"

"The consultant said they found some empty bottles and other discarded items from squatters, but no intentional damage."

"And the barn?"

"In better shape than the house. All of the walls are sound, but it may need a new roof."

We walked back around to the front of the house and I gazed down on the expansive, lonely complex. It needed a lot of work, but it had potential.

"I'll want to have my own inspector in, of course."

The realtor raised an eyebrow briefly, probably wondering why I'd bother to inspect such obviously decrepit buildings. "I take that to mean you're interested?"

I titled my head to the side, still considering the view. "Possibly. But I'll want my inspector out before moving forward."

The realtor nodded. "Of course. I'll get in touch with my assistant and she'll call you to set up an appointment."

"Sounds good to me." I turned and held out a hand to the realtor. We shook and I made my way back to truck, already envisioning all of the things this place could be.

[Pearl]

Post under construction.

Placeholder while I get my thoughts together.

Horse concerned:

The move-in happened a few months later, though it wasn't much to celebrate. I'd packed a small cargo trailer with my meager belongings, and set up a tent across the driveway from the house. It was not glamorous or comfortable, but everybody starts somewhere.

I worked on the barn and the small paddocks next to it first, with the thought that I could bunk in the barn with the horses while I decided whether or not to just tear down the house and start over. My inspector had agreed with the realtor's consultant that the bones of the barn were still good and the only major work that needed to be done was the roof. Having no experience with roofs, I hired a contractor with what little savings I had left after purchasing the land. While the contractor worked on the roof, I set about repairing the fencing around the small paddocks.

Some of the fencing was still good, but not much. Most of the boards were rotted or broken, but several posts were still sturdy enough to be serviceable. I collected the boards that couldn't be used for fencing in a large pile near the front of the barn, with the thought of re-purposing them or using them for kindling if they proved entirely useless. Then I proceeded to scour the far pastures for any salvageable posts and boards. I came up with enough to fully fence the first small pasture and a small section of the second.

The contractor and his workers finished the roof on the barn before I finished putting up the fencing, which meant that I could start on the inside of the barn as soon as the fencing was done. The barn wasn't particularly large - it had space for eight decently sized stalls and a small tack and feed room. Many of the doors were hanging from rusted and broken hinges, but the doors themselves were still solid. I invested some money in new stainless steel hinges and had the doors rehung quickly.

With the pasture fenced and the barn at least serviceable, it was time to consider bringing in some horses.