Four Horse Haven - Updated!
Wow, what a weekend.
Lisa arrived here on Sunday as planned, and we went on our walk through of the new house.
The guy had cleaned up everything: the house was empty, all the old dead farm equipment and cars were removed, the lawn was mowed, the floors vacuumed. There was a great big dumpster in the yard filled with garbage. It was a nice treat.
We went on our walk through with our agent, and another couple plus father showed up to take a look at the hot tub. We don't want it, they want it, they're willing (maybe) to chop it up and remove it from the house to get a hot tub for cheap. Works out good for everybody. They think it's possible, and will get back to us after we close in Kitchener.
The house is wonderful: it's remarkable how much it reminds me of Villa Villatrolla on Clyde Road in Cambridge. Same old house, same smell. Similar road and distance from it. Similar fencing around. Even the carpet/lino/bare floor ratios are about the same. We loved that house. I love this one, too. :-)
We took some pictures... I'll offload mine and post them. Mostly of the yard and outside of the house.
:-) It's going to be a fun house to decorate for Hallowe'en.
That night, we went to Mexicala Rosa's for supper -- I love that Kanata has mexican food! :-) Then we stopped in at Home Depot and looked at fencing and flooring and lighting, and finally went back to my nasty basement to go to sleep. We watched episode 1 of the next season of Stargate that Lisa brought.
Oh - she also brought me the latest Martha Stewart, a Lee Valley catalog, and a book: Horsekeeping on Small Acrages - that looks really good.
The next morning (Monday), I went to work, and at noon we went off to the lawyer to sign hundreds of papers that ultimately mean that we're going to buy a house. :-) We weren't that happy with the lawyer we used, but in the end, it seems to have worked out ok.
We ate in the food court in the lawyer's office - chinese food, that wasn't too bad, really, and then I went back to work.
While I was at work on Monday, Lisa was busy too - she got all new GE appliances ordered: stainless steel fridge (large, freezer on the bottom, french doors) and stove (flat top, convection, self clean), and front load washer/dryer. Plus a new matching microwave. They're coming next Tuesday, I think.
Plus she investigated fencing and lighting and all sorts of things for the new house.
That night we went to Carleton Place, and the Eating Place - our favorite place to eat. :-) I had the pizza, Lisa had the hot turkey sandwich. Delicious, all around.
The next day (Tuesday), I went to work, and Lisa dealt with the lawyers all day, doing her heroic best to get the various involved lawyers to work together and get closing done on time. And she squeaked it out -- she got the keys at 5:00pm.
We went out to eat at Baton Rouge, and went out to the house that evening. The idea was to change the locks and sleep over.
When we got there, there was this note:
Setting to take the back door deadbolt out, we immediately ran into problems. There weren't any screws. :-) You get the collar around the bolt taken off, and there's just these two tiny holes, one on either side of the bolt.
Lisa and her internet skillz to the rescue: turns out this is a Lori-style deadbolt, and you need to use a 5/64 allen key to take it out.
So, back to Home Depot to buy an allen key (because, really, who has one of those!?), and back to the house to fiddle forever trying to get this to work. After probably a half an hour of failing to take it off with the key, I finally worked out the trick, and got the back lock off. The new one was easy to install, and life was good.
The front door one was hardly any trouble at all.
During this, it got very dark outside (it was probably 10:30 or maybe later by the time we were done the locks). And what did we see in our yard but thousands and thousands of fireflies - all through our yard and the surrounding fields. It was breathtaking.
There's so many bugs (all sorts - big ones, little ones, fireflies, june bugs, deer flies, mosquitoes, strange bugs I've never seen before) around that house. They're attracted to the porch light, and come in the house. I'm not sure if there's any way of dealing with that... probably not. It's bizzare, though.
Then we went back to my troll basement to get bedding to sleep over. We got back to the house, only to discover that I'd (stupidly) forgotten the power adapters to re-inflate the Coleman mattresses. SO, back to the troll basement, picked up the adapters, then a quick stop at Burger King for food - only to discover they're not open at 11:30 at night - so off to McDonald's because by now we were STARVING. :-)
Then we showered (it was bloody hot yesterday, and humid. The A/C at the new house, though weak, and the shower were extremely welcome luxuries).
Finally, we went to bed in our new house. :-) We're not homeless any more! Yay!
I love it.
Then, this morning, we dropped some stuff back here at my troll basement (having no car, I can't really live at the new place until we're moved in for real later this month -- it's just a bit too far), and I went to work, and Lisa made the 6 hour drive back to Kitchener. She got back safe and sound: I Skyped with her earlier this evening.
Yay yay! It's the beginning of the end, now. Friday evening I fly back to Kitchener for Father's Day and final house prep, Lisa comes back with me by car later in the weekend, and stays a couple days or so to receive the new appliances.
The next weekend she comes back, and it's our big weekend to do work in the new house. I'm not sure what we'll all do, but for sure it'll involve dog fencing of some description, and probably lots of cleaning and work (probably including some critical electrical work -- there's some fixtures that really need changing right away -- maybe including ripping up carpet and stuff, but that depends on what we decide to do).
Then the next weekend is our big moving weekend, with the truck and Lisa's parent coming up to help, and Jessica and the dogs and... and everything.
And then we're moved. But the time will go by quickly, because we're busy, and Lisa and I can be together quite a bit more than we have been for this whole saga since I've moved out here.
Big fun. It's VERY nice to be on the other end of this.
Oh: and the house's name? We've had Villa Villatrolla, Casa del Arbre, and this one is:
It just fits.
Lisa arrived here on Sunday as planned, and we went on our walk through of the new house.
The guy had cleaned up everything: the house was empty, all the old dead farm equipment and cars were removed, the lawn was mowed, the floors vacuumed. There was a great big dumpster in the yard filled with garbage. It was a nice treat.
We went on our walk through with our agent, and another couple plus father showed up to take a look at the hot tub. We don't want it, they want it, they're willing (maybe) to chop it up and remove it from the house to get a hot tub for cheap. Works out good for everybody. They think it's possible, and will get back to us after we close in Kitchener.
The house is wonderful: it's remarkable how much it reminds me of Villa Villatrolla on Clyde Road in Cambridge. Same old house, same smell. Similar road and distance from it. Similar fencing around. Even the carpet/lino/bare floor ratios are about the same. We loved that house. I love this one, too. :-)
We took some pictures... I'll offload mine and post them. Mostly of the yard and outside of the house.
:-) It's going to be a fun house to decorate for Hallowe'en.
That night, we went to Mexicala Rosa's for supper -- I love that Kanata has mexican food! :-) Then we stopped in at Home Depot and looked at fencing and flooring and lighting, and finally went back to my nasty basement to go to sleep. We watched episode 1 of the next season of Stargate that Lisa brought.
Oh - she also brought me the latest Martha Stewart, a Lee Valley catalog, and a book: Horsekeeping on Small Acrages - that looks really good.
The next morning (Monday), I went to work, and at noon we went off to the lawyer to sign hundreds of papers that ultimately mean that we're going to buy a house. :-) We weren't that happy with the lawyer we used, but in the end, it seems to have worked out ok.
We ate in the food court in the lawyer's office - chinese food, that wasn't too bad, really, and then I went back to work.
While I was at work on Monday, Lisa was busy too - she got all new GE appliances ordered: stainless steel fridge (large, freezer on the bottom, french doors) and stove (flat top, convection, self clean), and front load washer/dryer. Plus a new matching microwave. They're coming next Tuesday, I think.
Plus she investigated fencing and lighting and all sorts of things for the new house.
That night we went to Carleton Place, and the Eating Place - our favorite place to eat. :-) I had the pizza, Lisa had the hot turkey sandwich. Delicious, all around.
The next day (Tuesday), I went to work, and Lisa dealt with the lawyers all day, doing her heroic best to get the various involved lawyers to work together and get closing done on time. And she squeaked it out -- she got the keys at 5:00pm.
We went out to eat at Baton Rouge, and went out to the house that evening. The idea was to change the locks and sleep over.
When we got there, there was this note:
June 12, 2007
Dear Lisa & Shawn,
Welcome to your new home! I thought you would like to know a little bit about it.
This house was built more than 140 years ago on a foundation 1/4 of a mile or so southeast of where it currently sits. It was moved here in 1950 by my father, using a team of 4 work horses. It is sided in red brick and originally had a porch across the front and a summer kitchen in the back. In 1994 I had all of the renovations done that you see today including the bathroom and a new well was drilled.
We have owned this home and land all this time. If the walls could speak, they would tell you many happy and sad stories of generations of our family. It has been very difficult for me to leave this home, but it is time to move on. My wish is that it will be a happy haven for you both, and that you will spend many joyful and productive years creating your own stories for these walls to record.
And didn't that make us teary. :-)Dear Lisa & Shawn,
Welcome to your new home! I thought you would like to know a little bit about it.
This house was built more than 140 years ago on a foundation 1/4 of a mile or so southeast of where it currently sits. It was moved here in 1950 by my father, using a team of 4 work horses. It is sided in red brick and originally had a porch across the front and a summer kitchen in the back. In 1994 I had all of the renovations done that you see today including the bathroom and a new well was drilled.
We have owned this home and land all this time. If the walls could speak, they would tell you many happy and sad stories of generations of our family. It has been very difficult for me to leave this home, but it is time to move on. My wish is that it will be a happy haven for you both, and that you will spend many joyful and productive years creating your own stories for these walls to record.
Setting to take the back door deadbolt out, we immediately ran into problems. There weren't any screws. :-) You get the collar around the bolt taken off, and there's just these two tiny holes, one on either side of the bolt.
Lisa and her internet skillz to the rescue: turns out this is a Lori-style deadbolt, and you need to use a 5/64 allen key to take it out.
So, back to Home Depot to buy an allen key (because, really, who has one of those!?), and back to the house to fiddle forever trying to get this to work. After probably a half an hour of failing to take it off with the key, I finally worked out the trick, and got the back lock off. The new one was easy to install, and life was good.
The front door one was hardly any trouble at all.
During this, it got very dark outside (it was probably 10:30 or maybe later by the time we were done the locks). And what did we see in our yard but thousands and thousands of fireflies - all through our yard and the surrounding fields. It was breathtaking.
There's so many bugs (all sorts - big ones, little ones, fireflies, june bugs, deer flies, mosquitoes, strange bugs I've never seen before) around that house. They're attracted to the porch light, and come in the house. I'm not sure if there's any way of dealing with that... probably not. It's bizzare, though.
Then we went back to my troll basement to get bedding to sleep over. We got back to the house, only to discover that I'd (stupidly) forgotten the power adapters to re-inflate the Coleman mattresses. SO, back to the troll basement, picked up the adapters, then a quick stop at Burger King for food - only to discover they're not open at 11:30 at night - so off to McDonald's because by now we were STARVING. :-)
Then we showered (it was bloody hot yesterday, and humid. The A/C at the new house, though weak, and the shower were extremely welcome luxuries).
Finally, we went to bed in our new house. :-) We're not homeless any more! Yay!
I love it.
Then, this morning, we dropped some stuff back here at my troll basement (having no car, I can't really live at the new place until we're moved in for real later this month -- it's just a bit too far), and I went to work, and Lisa made the 6 hour drive back to Kitchener. She got back safe and sound: I Skyped with her earlier this evening.
Yay yay! It's the beginning of the end, now. Friday evening I fly back to Kitchener for Father's Day and final house prep, Lisa comes back with me by car later in the weekend, and stays a couple days or so to receive the new appliances.
The next weekend she comes back, and it's our big weekend to do work in the new house. I'm not sure what we'll all do, but for sure it'll involve dog fencing of some description, and probably lots of cleaning and work (probably including some critical electrical work -- there's some fixtures that really need changing right away -- maybe including ripping up carpet and stuff, but that depends on what we decide to do).
Then the next weekend is our big moving weekend, with the truck and Lisa's parent coming up to help, and Jessica and the dogs and... and everything.
And then we're moved. But the time will go by quickly, because we're busy, and Lisa and I can be together quite a bit more than we have been for this whole saga since I've moved out here.
Big fun. It's VERY nice to be on the other end of this.
Oh: and the house's name? We've had Villa Villatrolla, Casa del Arbre, and this one is:
Four Horse Haven.
It just fits.
posted by Shawn Vincent at
6:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home