What to do when your shiny dreams become tarnished

Once again, I find myself at a crossroads. We have come so far and yet not quite far enough. We had big, crazy dreams about living in a camper for a few months while the hubby would rush home every night and work on our earthship.

I would help by picking out finishes, cooking homecooked meals, cheering him on and making sure we were on track with it all.

It would only take a few months, 3 months, well possibly 6 at the most. By now you know our story. Governmental red tape tied us up for most of those first 3 months. Then we had to find a contractor and an engineer to do the septic system. By October we were moving along.

Then the rain and snows came. It was a mild winter, but the ground was frozen, so it made it difficult to move and pound dirt into the tires.

Honestly, we had no clue how much time, or money everything would take. We watched too many YouTube videos about guys building their own earthships for around 35k start to finish. Of course, that was just one room and I’m pretty sure the local authorities had no idea they were building such a structure. If they did, they probably would have been out there to stop progress with their hands out for each and every aspect of the build.

At first, I naïvely thought we might be able to start building and maybe slip under the radar out here. I mean who really would care what we are doing on our own land? We weren’t bothering anyone (so I thought).

Thankfully Dave knew better and made sure we followed all the rules. This is very fortunate since the compliance department issued us a summons last spring. We just renewed the permit again for the umtenth time. We have gotten a final on our septic, but that is all. Sometimes it seems like we go backward faster than forwards.

This winter hit hard. More snow, rain and cold than we have seen for a long time. Even when the sun was shining, all that would do is melt more snow and produce more mud. We still have mud, and more rain every week. Our area is desperate for moisture, so I try to be patient and welcome it.

All it has done for us is delay any kind of progress on the earthship. Dave was in the process of building the front foundation of the house last fall, and with the weather, he hasn’t been able to even finish that.

Our road was so bad, there were days at a time I didn’t dare go to town for fear of possibly getting stuck. We parked about 300 yards from the house and hiked in. I would plan my days accordingly, loading the car with laundry while the ground was still frozen and trying to get back before it was too messy. Hopefully, those days are over. We are actually starting to dry out between storms now.

We have found a little house about 30 minutes from here and are in the process of buying it. It is definitely a fixer, but we can do it as we go. When we get a few of the big things done, we can move in for a while. We decided to split our time between places to make sure this place stays in tact and to give Dave some time to work on the earthship if he can.

It will be hard to trade the calls of the coyotes for the sounds of traffic on the nearby streets, but as we always tell each other, “It’s only for a time.”

So, I take out my tarnished dreams and pull out the polishing cloth once again. We aren’t done, just delayed once again. Life isn’t always about doing things quickly, it’s about the journey. We are on quite a journey that’s for sure.

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

Psalm 20:4