That is what I call it, the piece of property that we want.  We wanted to go see it "at its worst" with the drought in full swing.  We wanted to see how the lake was holding up, if the pond had water, what the pastures looked like. 

So, we called up our realtor and went.  The pond was almost completely dried up.  What I noticed more, was how shallow the pond actually was.  I had envisioned it being deeper than that for some reason. 

The pasture was brown with lots of weeds.  They have not taken care of the pasture and they have not mowed anything. 

The lake still had lots of water, down a total of 6 feet I would say.  The beavers are still at work trying to keep the water flowing downstream.  They are oblivious to the beaver problem or don't care one of the other. 

I was concerned that one of the cypress trees was turning brown (there are 3 cypress trees around the lake).  This particular tree is the farthest away from the water.  I came home and researched it though and sometimes they just turn brown and will drop their leaves to go into dormancy early when stressed.  I hope it is that and not that it is dead. 

We all still want this property.  I think because we all see the potential it holds.  We see it in the finished state.  We have a vision for the property. 

I took lots of pictures and when I got home compared them to the pictures from the first time we saw it in January of this year and the second time we saw it in March. 

We will have our 20% down payment at the end of August if all goes as expected.  The scary part is knowing for sure if this is the right place.  We all love it but don't love the work just to get it "liveable".  Then there is the part of letting go of the money we've saved.  It feels good having a nice cushion in the bank account. 

Even after looking at 15 properties or so, this one is the best we've seen, the lay of the land, the mix of woods to pasture, the lake, the pond, 3 wells, the distance to our work, the location and access.  One thing I know for sure, it makes me happy every time I see it.