Oh my goodness, look at that. Yeah, after a long wait, I finally started building my final home. When I moved into the DW on the south side of the farm, jeez, almost 10 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams expected to be there that long. I mean, it’s definitely not been the ideal living situation, so it’s very exciting that I’m finally able to get going on building something that’s, you know, going to be completely accessible for me. Every day something new is happening and being added, so I can’t wait to show Karen the progress.

“You weren’t kidding, it’s happening.” “Yeah, it’s happening, all right.”

“Oh my gosh, you know, we’re living together full-time, so having a place that we will live together here and then also live together in Arizona, that’s big.” “Yeah, yeah, I love the shape of it.” “I do too. It’s still hard to visualize it.

I mean, you could probably walk through and know where the rooms are, but the biggest thing we’re doing with this plan, and the reason a lot of this is so elaborate, is because there’s going to be zero steps.

Building your own home for your comfort and your retirement, it’s going to offer him a very comfortable landing spot as he ages. We don’t plan to change our formula of going down to Arizona and back and forth, we just think when we come back, we’re going to have a much more comfortable place.”

“You’ve had this in your mind for so long. I mean, are you just, like, so excited?” “So happy for you.” “Yeah, well, good, thank you. I’m happy for us. We’re definitely thinking of the new house as being a fun place all the way around, whether it be our friends or the grandkids or her kids or my kids. I mean, we’re definitely looking at it as being a fun place to, um, hang out. I haven’t seen Zach and Tao down here in quite a few months, but I am not in a space where I’m, I hang my happiness on what the kids accept or don’t accept about what we’re doing here. I do hang my head on the fact that all the kids have gone off and got their own lives going. That’s the independence that I’m very happy about. They may all wish things happened a different way, but deep down in my soul, I feel very good about the way things are. You know, whatever happens, the farm is beautiful. The farm deserves a home like this for you.”

“We’re happy, we’re plowing forward. We’re going to make this house amazing for Matt. And what’s that saying, if you build it, they will come? And whoever comes, we’re going to welcome everyone with open arms. And whoever doesn’t want to come, that’s okay too.” “What did that guy say about building houses causes divorces or what was that?” “We don’t have to worry about that.” “Yeah, we don’t have to worry about it. Not married. Let’s make a commitment.

We don’t get married till after the house is finished, so we don’t have to go through it. The truth is, we’ve talked about it a lot. We may get married, we may not. We’re going to wait and see. I mean, tomorrow I could wake up and he could propose and I’d say yes, or we could go the next 10 years and never get married. We don’t know. It’s a surprise. And you know what the biggest thing about this is, for the next 8 months, as long as it’s going to take, it’s going to keep me out of your hair.” “I like you in my hair.” “I’m very, very happy ’cause it feels like a sense of settle, like I’m on a beautiful piece of property with a beautiful home and with a beautiful woman, and I’m settled.

I think the house represents for me watching Matt be able to enjoy all of the years that he works so hard on the farm and really put his heart, sweat, tears, and soul into this farm. I want to watch him pour the concrete ’cause that’s kind of, oh yeah, that’s, oh, can we put our initials in the concrete?” “Now he’s finally able, as he sits down the barrel of retirement, having his kind of last build on the farm where he will reside and watch over the grandchildren and then hopefully keep that in the family to pass on.” “Well, you did it. I’m very excited.” “Yeah, you pulled it off, Matt.”

“Oh, you’ve got forms up. I’ll be, DC, that’s the big development.” “Look at that. Yeah, it’s a one level, right?” “It’s a single level. And what’s the total square footage you get?” “It’s 39, right around in there, wow.”

“I understand there’s been some progress on Matt’s new house, and I’m enjoying watching the different stages and what’s happening. So, I’m going to go see what’s new. If it wasn’t so soggy, I’d drive you around down there. You know what I enjoy about Chris is he has a genuine interest in a lot of the things I have an interest in, chili, huh? Whether it be the building process, tractors, or new equipment, so it’s fun to be able to bounce things off of Chris.”