Digging It Up

We did the first home improvement! Well actually we hired Brent Moralle with his big digging machine to clear the yard of all the overgrowth. Now we can really see the house and Love Shack and how big the yard is (it's big). Click on images to see them bigger.

All the overgrowth has been cleared away. I am so happy the overgrown Sago palms are gone and you can see the front of the house. One day there will be a walkway, pretty plantings, and a picket fence, and of course the house painted, and restored. Dave found the shutters for the house in a shed behind the Love Shack. We are thrilled to have found them!

Brett and his big machine pulled out all the overgrowth

Even the Love Shack looks bigger

Clearing it all away from the house

The yard looks a bit forlorn and rough and huge. Another guy is going to come by and smooth it all out and take away more debris. Sometimes things have to be deconstructed in order to build them up again. One day pretty plants and a picket fence in front and nice driveway will be in place.

In the meantime Dave is nearly done cleaning out his house in New Orleans, and moving his things to storage in BSL. His brother drove over from South Carolina to help with this last big push. The record breaking August heat hasn't made it easy for them.

I'm still packing at my house. Right after both our houses close on the 23rd of August, it will be my turn to get my things to storage in BSL. Our little shop in Antiques Maison will be ready for us this weekend to place a few things and to stage. I'm also teaching tango this coming Sunday in Biloxi, invited by local teacher there Percell St. Thomass. We're running on fumes and happiness.

As ever, thank you Charlie Pettway our broker who has become a friend, for her excellent referrals for the workmen we need.

Show Me the Money...

Things are moving ahead. Our offer as accepted and we close on July 17. Getting financing is always interesting, and in our case more so. We don't have deep pockets, and at our age 30 year mortgages are amusing at best. So a second mortgage was procured on my New Orleans house, so we can pay cash for the beach house. Dave's house is on the market, and mine will go on the market this week.

The death of Dave's favorite aunt slowed us down a bit. She was 96. A road trip to South Carolina to say farewell to her gave us plenty of time to talk and reflect on life. Even though it made the logistics of all of this more pressing, it was a welcome time together.

While looking for some legal documents buried in an under-counter space in my dining room, I came upon boxes and boxes of photographs that constitute my old portfolio of work for my defunct event design business that closed nearly 25 years ago. The great purge has to commence, and I am screwing up my courage to throw out these remnants and relics of my glory days in New York.

There are so many of the mixed emotions expected with this type of decision and move. My inner voice screams, "Are you nuts"? But nuts or not, events are propelling us forward.

We stopped at the beach house on our way home from South Carolina. The listing agent was there still showing it, as the official status is "pending and still showing". We were a little annoyed that he was showing "our house", and drove away to the ice cream parlor to cool our tempers. We went back, and they were gone. Who else but us would want this wreck? We walked the property and took some measurements in the 98 degrees heat. We talked about the things to do first. There's still a lot of overgrown trash trees and vines that need to be removed from the enormous yard and off the love shack (the additional small guest cottage on the property), and that will be the first thing to do.

The Love Shack, the guest cottage on the property

We also scoped out storage units. We will have to store the furniture we are bringing, and things we will sell in a vintage shop we plan to open, while the house is being renovated. If both our houses sell quickly we will have no place to live, another daunting prospect for sure. The plan is to get the 300 square foot Love Shack renovated for us to live in for the duration of the big house restoration. Time is not on our side. Dave has a major project he is working on in New Orleans that must be completed before he can start working on our little nest.