Thread: Just bought 5.5 acres in kansas...lots of big pictures

Tweet

Originally Posted by robot

In Texas, that storm shelter was called a "fraidy hole" cause only the folks who were afraid of tornadoes when in there.....from playing in them as a kid, they were really only a spider farm.....I'd rather face the storm than face the spiders.

Also, an interesting statistic....there is supposedly an average of one hand-dug well for every square mile in Kansas. The wells were cribbed over with logs and, as the logs rot, pose a nice place for tractors or other vehicles to fall into. It used to be a common occurance for a farmer to be plowing and his tractor broke thru and fell partially into the hole.

mike in tucson

I like that......You have just named it for me ,I will make a sign over the entrance that sayes ....Fraidy hole....and let people ask what it means.....thanks.

It was full of spiders and critters ,I was fraidy of it ,thats for shure..

I had deer each day I was there cutting grass peeking around the trees and buildings looking at me,I would get that feeling i was being watched or just happen to see one out of the corner of my eye and stop cutting to watch them.....not to mention all the coon poop from about 50 mulberry trees .
I even had a badger diggin a hole out front overnight,I guess he needed a place to sleep for the night ,so he dug a 4 foot deep hole about 10 inches around to sleep in ,I have not seen him since.
There are more chiggers and ticks that you can shake a stick at there too,I went thru 5 cans of 40 percent deet trying to keep them at a managable level,finally I got a pair of rubber boots and that tamed them down alot ,but still had a few ticks each day when I gat back to the place and showered up.The skeeters were out of hand too,big black and white speckled scoundrels that left big red welts where they bit.
I have already eaten mulberries,green onions,asperagus and garlic from there,I was not too shure about the greens ,some type of mustard or kale and they were a little too big to eat....still waiting on the pears to get ripe and chow down on those.....none of the other fruit trees had fruit on them......I guess it too cold or they need to be trimmed and watered to produce fruit after being neglected for 12 years ...

shawn you must have enough scrap aluminum all those air plane parts and Mobile homes and camper and scrap iron to end with the property for free maybe even a profit.....ted

OK, so you have it... What are you going to do with it?
I drive through Alabama and see neglected properties all the time, but if you buy them then you are obligated to the property for taxes and all. I can buy a house in Repton, AL for $25000 move in ready, but then I will live in Repton. I thought of doing it and find old abandoned cars and Ebay the parts.

Thats what I am planning on doing ,all but the airplanes ,supposedly people like to restore old airplanes ,those are mid 60s cesnas and i hope to find those people and sell it to them cheap.
The previous owner exspressed his wishes as to see them goto someone who would use them as planes and I feel the same ,those were his dads planes and he did not want them to get turned into beer cans......I completely agreeded and want them to be used by rebuilders or collectors ,even if it just means basically giving them away at scrap price to them,supposedly rebuildable wings are worth some money a 1000 dollars a pair ,but I am not looking for top dollar,just someone who will use them to rebuild or as displays etc.
But there is a tons of other aluminum and scap metal...literally tons,the guy i bought it from said he was shure there is almost enuff there for me to break even on,but he did not have the want or time to do that from out of state.
He was a retired Colonel from the military and was a good guy to deal with.

Originally Posted by Jetstang

OK, so you have it... What are you going to do with it?
I drive through Alabama and see neglected properties all the time, but if you buy them then you are obligated to the property for taxes and all. I can buy a house in Repton, AL for $25000 move in ready, but then I will live in Repton. I thought of doing it and find old abandoned cars and Ebay the parts.

Get out of california...I plan to live there,taxes are 100 dollars a year ,water is free ,trash gets burnt and electricity is cheap ,food will be grown as well as chickens and a pig or steer each year to help cut the grocery bill down,should have enuff money from selling the house in california to not have to do much at all for along time.
Mess with a few cars to restore and generally be happy and free of the city,the close person living there is over 2 miles away and most of them have already stopped by ,said how nice the place was looking ,offered help and give me water to drink if I needed it untill i got the well going again.
I plan to have a good time ,relax and enjoy myself for awhile and get away from all the rules out here in california,2 of my aunts and uncles live close as well as my grandma,they are less than 15 minutes away,thats part of why the location was perfect ,the other properties I was looking at were hours away from my family.

That is what I was thinking when I retired from the military, but the retirement was only enough so I could live there poor, lol, I still needed a job and they weren't paying much. Congrats on your purchase and it looks interesting, and like a lot of work. Do you get internet out there?
My uncle has a place in Wisconsin he calls the Hideaway. We go there every year, he owns a 300 acre valley with hills on both sides with a pond. 2 old houses, a barn and a couple old out buildings. He has a bunch of farm all tractors, one with a 318 Mopar in it! Anyway, we go there every year and it's the best day of our vacation. I can appreciate what you have and it should be an interesting episode of your life.

How close is the property to the old Santa Fe Trail?.....
http://www.nps.gov/archive/safe/fnl-.../map4/map4.htm

Satelite internet and tv ....but I dont watch tv,dont even own one.

The only thing that comes from civilization is a power wire.

Originally Posted by techinspector1

How close is the property to the old Santa Fe Trail?.....
http://www.nps.gov/archive/safe/fnl-.../map4/map4.htm

Very close ,I was looking at some property that actually had some of the trail running thru it ,still had existing ruts,but there was no power there and I was afraid some sort of historic restriction of some sort might be in effect or go into effect and part of the reason I am moving is to get away from the restrictions.

My grandma and aunt and uncle are in larned and I am 15 minutes away.Over close to Fort larned.

Originally Posted by shawnlee28

part of the reason I am moving is to get away from the restrictions.

Dig it.....

Waiting to see your location changed from so.cal, Ca to Fraidy Hole, Kansas. Too cool.

Congrats Shawnee
Place seems like a real gem. All the basics already in place, Shelter, food, water, power and not to mention the fraidy hole! It will be a nice break from the So Cal urban density, and also nice to be near family. Any chance of resurecting the Farmall? That looked in pretty good shape. My neighbor went to his Casadero property and resurected a Cat that had been sitting for over 8 years, in three hours had it running again!
Might be fun to shoot some paint on the tractor! Some of those cars might fetch more cash from a sale on ebay than the scrap yard. You also might find craigslist usefull. Again congrats on following the dream, and getting back to a more simple peacefull life!
Now you'll be living the Kansas version of traffic Jam, 3 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the road!

Bailin' on "The OC, and SoCal", huh?? Good for you; you're still young enough to make some hay in that paradise you bought. We lived and worked in OC from '68 to '95, when we retired, and fled to NorCal, but I was too broken and worn out to deal effectively with the needs of deep rural living, most especially the snow and ice of the Sierras. Started hunting a warmer and flatter place to hang out for the duration, and wound up in Las Vegas in '03. Don't much miss "The OC", or SoCal; being a "Desert Rat" at heart, though, I don't mind metro Las Vegas too much.

Shawnlee a gold mine for sure but I also look at it as antiques to keep .

Thanks !!

I am a project kinda guy ,might have to keep one airplane just for a project.....would kinda be cool to have it inside the quonset as a ornament !!!

My first thought was to mount one ontop of the quonset hut for a lookout tower to sit in and take in the view....you know how flat kansas is ,30 feet in the air and you can see for miles and miles....

Those airplanes are REALLY worth some bucks IF they have the Serial Plate on them, actually just the Plate. So if you scrape them out for the aluminum save the Plate.

Kind of reminds me of my son's place.