wow, thanks gentlemen for such great replys; really appreciate it.
i had spent hours pouring over this board and learned a lot from past posts ( i was hoping gary would see my post - and where's that chap from the uk ? : ))
last winter, my second in maine was pretty challenging; i am from the mountains of wv. (warning - personal rambling to follow - hope you don't get too bored, or get the urge to barf). i met a girl on-line and we dated long-distance for some time and i finally decided to take a chance and move north. as a result i made a chunk of change selling my place down there. i looked for land for two years in maine, and oh boy was i in for a surprise. everything up here is so expensive - i used to pay a hundred for a cord of wood - 250. in maine. land - don't even. i was looking right at the tail-end of the boom, and the real estate agents were convincing everybody their property was worth three times what anybody would pay. i won't go into the part about the relationship not working out and sleeping in my truck in the mahoosuc reserve most of the winter - you'll thank me.
but bottom-line, i was homeless and didn't really know anybody up here. but i kept searching - hard. i was calling real estate agents from properties with questions and they were like - uh, what property are you talking about - really ? i just submitted that listing yesterday - you're at the property ? how did you find it ? and so it went... then i found a listing that seemed too good to be true; twenty-five acres fifteen minutes from auburn for 65,000. i went and saw it and it was love at first sight. the front of the lot was old hay field; seven acres, and the back was mostly swamp, but bordered by cmp easement, and trees. dairy farm on one side, apple orchard on the other. cow poop and bees - perfect combination for reasonably priced land. the back was cut over twenty years ago, but there is plenty of firewood back there - just need a tractor and cart. ended up getting the land for 58,000. last october.
so, the fun begins. mission impossible: build a house with 77,000. before winter sets in hard. i was the gc, and began searching for people to getrdone. to make a long story short, here are the low-lights. rained and rained and rained. contractors took me to the cleaners and then kicked me in the nads just for grins. got a tri-axle stuck up to the hubs, got a concrete truck stuck, i buried a rented 4wd kubota back-hoe in mud so deep, half of the engine was under mud. there i was; temperature dropping, ten o'clock at night, i'm soaked to the bone from wet mud, holding a flashlight with one hand, and trying to shovel mud from under the front end as it was just sucking the tractor in deeper. that went on for a couple of hours until i finally just broke down and went to my knees and began to cry. reason back-hoe got stuck - i was using it to dig the underground utility trench. 500 ft. of trench and rain do not mix; filled up completely with water. there was a low spot in the middle of the lot that was perpendicular to the trench that went sloped away and down from the utility trench. i figured i could dig a trench across the lot in order to drain the water out of the utility trench. that was going just fine until i broke the dam at the intersection to let the water into the drainage trench. the tractor was straddling the drainage trench in order to dig and when i went to drive out/over it.....see above. i worked that poor little kubota harder than is imaginable. i turned that thing completely around twice using the bucket- six inches at a time. but i just kept mixing the excavated dirt with more water and kept going deeper and deeper. the whole job site was one big mud farm.
fast-forward to december and the house is under roof and i am sleeping on an air mattress on the subfloor with no heat or running water. was tough getting a well contractor to show up. he-ll it was tough to get anybody to show up. tougher to get anybody to finish the job. the only time you could count on anybody showing up was when they wanted money. but, the well only went 220 ft - thank god. so, i had water and finally got heat around first week of january. hooked up a rinnai and slept very very close to it on the air mattress. kept working on her through the winter and by the grace of god, got an occupancy certificate in march (poor ceo - i know he just dreaded coming out - he was finally like - it's your house man, do what you want - if you were building it for somebody else, we'd have a whole 'nother ballgame here - money was tight).
but i told you that to tell you this: last winter was tough trying to get back and forth from the road to the house. at first i shoveled it by hand and was actually priding myself on being a tough mountain man. but then the wind started blowing - no howling is more like it - and the path that i has shoveled to my truck at the edge of the street drifted back in so i had to shovel again. and then again, and then it froze solid. so i had frozen boot tracks along this path the whole way. try carrying four bags of groceries in the dark trying to walk in these frozen boot tracks. needless to say, i busted my a-ss several times and learned the hard way that eggs were not going to be had for breakfast. oh, forgot to tell that i didn't have a kitchen all this time. the whole downstairs was just framing. i was living in the upstairs with unfinished drywall and subfloor. so i was using an electric skillet, and one of those small fridges.
but i told you that to tell you this:
i knew i had to find a tactor in order to get me out to the road this winter and spent most of this summer looking at old 8n, 2n's, farmalls, etc. then i came across this 4wd kubota with ag tires on it and was really excited. i thought the 4wd would be worth its weight in gold. the guy wanted 3800. for it which was way out of my price range. i researched the tractor thoroughly and told him i would give him 2100, which was also way out of my price range - but..... he told me he had all kinds of people interested in it and wouldn't let it go for that low. now it's mine !! i know it's a great little tractor. now i have to figure out how to rob peter in order to pay paul to afford a 46'' meteor snowblower the local kub dlr has for 1065. oh yea, and find a way to deal with this dynamo issue.
but the good news is, that with help of navy federal credit union, i now have a kitchen, two rinnai heaters, a washing machine, twenty-five acres of wonderful land, a twenty-two hundred sq ft home, and a 450./month 30 yr fixed mortgage - which is a lot better than a lot of people have in these difficult times - so i am thankful this thanksgiving. it's been the toughest year of my life - i have never worked so hard, physically, for so many days on end to make this dream a reality. i had to pay a 2800. impact fee to the town of minot in order to get a building permit (don't get me started on this), but my propery tax bill just came the other week and it wasn't too bad. the job market up here is tough, but i've got hope.
so....that's my story of about why i am on here asking questions about my little, bitty kubota. i have a lot riding on this little thing moving snow so that i can actually drive up to the house this winter. and as well, i am looking forward to using it this coming summer. i am hoping to start doing something with the front field - goats, sheep, hay - something.
so i really appreciate you guys taking the time to write and appreciate your help - thank you very much.