Getting Legal

With all the attention Jan's construction project brought to my end of the little valley, we were bound to be discovered. In our desperation to get out of the tiny little trailer and into some decent housing, we moved into the barn without a building permit. Permits make money for the town and make sure important safety measures are taken in construction. Matt is a builder in his own right, and built a pretty sound and safe apt. BUT there are reams and reams of NY State mandated "codes" but I didn't have the money to do everything the State requires. It's been a tense month after receiving the letter that we were in "Violation." Funny, nobody seems to know my name. I'm going to paint my name on my mailbox so when I get these legal notices (dogs, codes, etc.) at least they can get my name right. They wanted everything from raising the ceiling (not possible) to new windows (so we can squeeze out in the event of fire), alarm systems, septic system (I put in a holding tank for $2,000 - not good enough) firewalls all around the apt...it goes on and on. I have to pay an architect $500 to design the septic system, then hire someone to put it in. Everything else Matt can do if I pay for it ("if you've got the money - I've got the time"). Got the permits (another $500) and he's allowing us to do everything in increments...or else we would be back in the trailer. AND absolutely no hay above the apartment and that comes from the head NY State code inspector. I have to buy insulation and a floor. This makes a future fiber arts workshop with stairs going up to it from the apartment a future possibility, but prevents us from having the hay business operating out of the front of the barn (whenever we get that going with Jan across the road). Fortunately there is another giant hay mow in the barn of the barn, but the elevator will have to be moved to the back, and some kind of access with trucks and trailers put in. It just goes on and on. Amidst all this I have to hold down a job, run a farm, and operate a fiber arts business which takes every bit of creative energy I can muster. In three months it will be cold, and with no hay above us it makes some kind of insulation an immediate necessity. There goes all my Rhinebeck money!! Luke is begging to go to the movies, and I don't think I can afford it. Tickets are $8 each at the multiplex and gas is - well, ridiculous. I think I have just enough gas to get us to the airport on Saturday. Thank Goodness he has smart, educated and successful parents who make good money to spend on him. I feel like a meteor, hurtling through the universe with no intended path, bouncing off asteroids as I go.