Floods, Feng Shui, and Father-in-Laws: The Soggy Saga of Idyllwild Woods

The Feng Shui lady said being by water would do this… And it worked at Idyllwild Woods, but maybe not as expected

Who knew water could inspire creativity?

I didn’t! Until I interviewed Lisa Morton recently for an upcoming edition of Entrepreneurs Gone Wild.

She’s a holistic Feng Shui designer.

I wanted to hear her thoughts about designing Idyllwild Woods for maximum relaxation and creativity.

She explained about the five elements: wood, fire, metal, earth, and water - and said that adding a moving water feature can help boost creativity.

Water stirs things up, moving everything in its path. Makes sense.

Little did I know…

Water would soon stir stuff up onsite!

“Tim (the building inspector) says your barn pad is in the flood zone. Do not proceed with the build until this is corrected.”

Not exactly what you want to hear… ever.

Especially when you’ve just paid like $23K for said barn pad, and the gravel road going to it!

But, but, but we checked the flood map! And we’re clear! At least, we thought we were clear.

Kind of important to be sure, though.

So, we got creative. 

30 years in the field

Hubby’s long history in all things construction came in handy. He knew this could be fixed by hiring a surveyor dude to determine whether we’re high and dry in a good way… or plain old high and dry and out of luck, with a hard lesson learned.

Surveyor dude said not to worry - we had not, in fact, built a road to nowhere. If the pad wasn’t in the clear, we could dig further into the hillside and be fine. (Fine, except our wallet!)

“Set stakes at the four corners of the barn where you want it on the pad, and I’ll send my guys out to make a final determination,” he said.

We’re 4-5 hours away from the property. But my very kind father-in-law is currently living about 20 minutes from the property! And good guy that he is, he did the do for us.

And… we’re in the clear!!!

PHEW.

Now, just waiting for the final sign-off from Tim so the concrete guy can do his thing… and the concrete can start its 28-day cure before the barn people can install the barn.

Water. It stirs things up and makes them move. 

Thinking we’ll set up a few sitting areas along the Roaring Fork Creek that runs the length of the property.

You can just go sit and listen to the water as it moves over the rocks.

Maybe journal. Write. Paint. Or just think. 

Can’t wait to share it with you!

xoxo

Sue