No!!!

The bank called today -- our mortgage request fell through. This is the second one that said everything was goodness and light, and then turned around and said we needed a commercial loan. The first one wasted almost three weeks; this one wasted four weeks. I'm getting very anxious, as we burn through our savings...

Next option is to try two separate loans: One on the house in California, and a smaller loan on the farm. I really didn't anticipate this, but then so far nothing I've predicted has come true:

Expectation	Reality
Use savings, finish debt-free	Take out a substantial loan
Finish July 2005	Finish spring 2006
Get support from local officials	Get hassled by local officials
Install a turn-around in front, turn delapidated tractor shed into parking in back	Install parking in front, leave delapidated tractor shed as-is
Pay for restoration as a business expense	Pay as a personal expense
Move to PA to start restoration	Dawn moves alone; be apart for a year
Live in summer kitchen	Live in greenhouse
Have cell phone service	Have cell phone doorstop
Don't touch rest of farm	Spend weeks cleaning up rest of farm
Cosmetic repairs	Replace entire electric, plumbing, heating, cooling, and septic systems (complete with bog turtle survey)
"Green"	Conventional
Open kitchen fireplace	Install kitchen island
Open fireplaces; convert to gas	Keep small fireplaces, install electric
Complete National Register listing by August 2004	Complete National Register listing by August 2006
Put the electric meter on the center pole	Put the electric meter on the privy
Patch the roof	Replace the roof
No sprinklers	Sprinklers
Fix back porch	Remove back porch
Use the furniture as-is	Completely restore all the furniture
Underground aerobic treatment unit	Sand mound
Wallpaper	Paint

On the bright side, how many more things can go wrong?