MY TRIP TO CITY HALL

Before I forget, I must report my trip to City Hall this last Tue.
It all started a few months ago when I went to the Dentist office next door to my store to ask about buying the lot behind my store.
Well the dentist wasn't to sure about how much of the lot he owned. He had purchased some lots a few years ago so he could expand the parking lot on the other side of his office and it included the lot that runs behind both of our buildings.
So I went to the court house and checked and he actually owned the full lot 28 ft wide behind us. So I went back and told him, well he really didn't want to sell but sure wished we could get it cleaned up. See there is an old big brick building just the other side of the lot, it had been used as an antique store, until the woman who ran it died 2 years ago. Her husband closed it down, BUT has used this lot to haul junk out and leave lay. When I bought my store, he had a huge dump truck sitting there full of God knows what. Finally on City Wide Clean up day he drove it (with tires almost flat, and icky stuff running out the bottom) out to the dump then parked it somewhere else, I was so glad to see it gone, till he pulled a pickup in and has filled it with stuff. The weeds and saplings have grown up now with all the junk under it all.
So the dentist and I got together and wrote letters to the City Council, I included a copy of the deed to show ownership in case that was in question and took pictures. Since the dentist lives 30 miles away, I agreed to present our info.
Which is what I did,(oh, and the dentist had called City Hall a couple times this summer to complain, but nothing was done) So the council voted unanimously that a letter should be sent to this guy and let him know if he didn't clear his junk out, the city would and send him a bill.
See my plan is to get the lot cleaned up. It runs from the alley up to main street, there is a foundation of some kind across the middle as it is on a sort of hill. If we can get it cleaned up the Dentist said he would bring in some gravel for the area behind my store, so I can have some parking and in exchange we will keep the area clean and mowed. Of course I visualize planting flowers and all.
So we will see what happens, I would still like to buy at least half the lot that is behind my store. Maybe later on he will agree to that. Heck I might want to add on, who knows.

Next week I will report on my trip to City Hall next Tue. Going before the Judge this time to protest my ticket I got. Will tell about that one later.

Oh, and we got posession of the house yesterday!! Now the real work begins.

Big Sigh

After a couple fasle starts we finally got closed on the new house today. There was a little glitch with the deed transfer but it got worked out. So now we can get started on the renovation that needs done. I think I mentioned that there was major floor damage in the kitchen from a leak that no one noticed. That was how we were able to make a much lower offer and the owners ( who live out of state) took it right away.

Been laying awake at night and listening to a pair of barn owls that come and sit in a tree in the front yard for awhile every nite. They have a very unusual hoot. Its sort of a hoot-hoot-hoot-purr. Alot of things go thru your mind when you can't sleep and one is the fact that no matter how old we are, do we ever really know what we WANT? I mean I am not the only one to think this am I? It is a pattern with Hubby, we are always changing what we want. But then its not just him, Its me too. I guess I never really ever knew what I wanted from life. In many ways its not what I GOT. Not that I have alot to complain about. Guess I am to much a romantic at heart. Sometimes moving around all my life ends up making me feel like I have no real root. A piece of property is just that, and it seems it shouldn't be that way. That is probably why I have alot of regrets about leaving this little 20 acre farm. IT is my 3rd time to live there, 2nd time to own it. When we moved back it just seemed like it was ment to be for us to end up back there. But there are so many reasons why we need to leave, (while we can) How many times can we start over and remake a house to fit our needs. We are getting to old for this!
So Guess we will get done what needs done and get the little farm on the market to sell. So on that note I will just give a big sigh, and move on.

Oh, we did sell the horse and donkey and found a home for Suzy, so all we have left are the chickens, and heck we could always eat them right????

BINGO, we did it again!

We made an offer on this nice house in nearby town, actually we made an offer much below asking price (will explain why later) and by the next day they accepted the offer with no questions. Hmmmmmm, wonder if we could have gone lower. Guess we will never know.
Now the reason we made a low offer, when the folks moved out last year, the line to the refrig did not have a shut off, so they bent it over. Well it has had a slow leak into the kitchen floor for a year. Still don't understand why the listing agent didn't notice anything. Maybe the buckling of the flooring didn't occure till recently. So we got our contractor guy to get a look at it and even went ahead and paid for an inspector so we know all the problems up front. Heck we are used to having our home torn up. So it is no big deal to us to have the entire kitchen floor torn up, cabinets moved out, then replace it all. We will still come out with a nice home in a very good neighborhood. It is a corner lot so only neighbor is SIL next door and the house behind is quite aways away, as the yards are real big.

So that is the biggest news. Still trying real hard to find a home for Suzy, she is into digging up moles in the yard now. Thats after she has gone out early in the morning when the birds are waking up and catches a sparrow from a bush, then carries it around and either eats it or bury's it. I put an ad in the local ad mag. that comes out weekly. But have looked into animal shelter and found one to take her to if we have to. She is so smart and sweet we hate to do that to her.

Sister is having a big celebration for her 10th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Have a big tent set up, looks like maybe they are having a revival meeting. After her cancer scare last year and treatment from hell, they feel like celebrating. I say GOOD for them. Other sister is just finishing up radiation to her leg from a rare kind of malignant tumor that was removed this summer. So send good vibes to her for getting her strength back now and getting back to her sassy self.

Oh, one last thing, it is so good to be done with that hot summer weather we had. Feels good to sleep with the window open and down in the 50's at nite. I like.

Sometimes its all just too much

Seems that the longer I go without posting something the harder it is to get back to it. Things sort of pile up and its like where do I start. So I have a feeling this will be a long post.

No. 1. I just deleted a big whinny comment about my heart problems and whether anyone cares. Decided I won't go there anymore for now.

No. 2. This is a biggy, we have decided to sell our little farm that we just bought a couple years ago and move into town. It was sort of one of those things that the inspiration hits you out of the "blue". and it just seems to be the right thing to do. A couple weeks ago we were both working our butts off and it was so hot, and we have so much to mow and so many projects that we just can't handle or get to, that I just blurted out "why don't we just sell this and buy the house next door to your sister that is for sale?" Honest to God, I don't know where that came from, but it just hit us that it was what we should do. So we hashed it over all weekend and the next week went to look at the house. So I can talk about all that later if it materializes. We just used our hearts instead of our minds when we bought this 20 acres back. One of the reasons we sold it 10 years ago was that it was to much work. Of course we have to have critters, you know if you live on a farm you have to. But they are expensive to take care, vet bills, feed, and equipment. It sure adds up. So there we are, after all the remodeling and hard work that has been done this last year.

No. 3. We sold the horse and donkeys. Wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I think we found a good home for them. The guy who bought them brought his "hand" with him. He looked like he belonged on a horse, a skinny guy about 30 with a big wad of tobacco packed in his lower lip and a huge cowboy hat. He saddled up Sam and took him out in the pasture and talked to him and carefully got on board, and Sam bolted into the gate. So this guy is real cool and just talks to him and sits there for several minutes to let him calm down, then walked him around a bit. They both agreed he was a smart horse and just needed to be worked (and put on a diet) I imagine hubby has packed a couple hundred pounds on him in the last year. After that hard workout, Sam had to take a good roll in the dirt, and get a drink of water, then he nuzzled everyone to see if there were any treats! They will use him at the sale barn to herd cattle and such. So he will be a working horse. The donkeys will just be put out to pasture for now. We don't want to know what happens to them. The cowboy guy has his 3 kids with him, Real nice kids, all in cowboy hats and they had fun leading Flossy around and picking up her feet. She needs someone like them to mess with her. So maybe they will end up with her. Poor old momma donkey prob won't make it thru another winter, so at least we won't have to deal with that.

No. 4. Guess I am back to my medical thing just for a bit. Only to just say that I HATE the medicine that they are trying on me. Makes my blood pressure to low and that makes me feel tired, and then I have a head ache all day. So hopefully it will ease up soon or we are going to try something different.

No 5. Going to City Hall tonite to do a presentation, to try to get the lot behind my store cleaned up. I did the research and found out that the dentist next door (he has office hrs. only 1 day a week) owns the lot. So I got copies of their deed and a lot map, and I wrote a letter, and the dentist wrote a great letter. So I will present it and I even took a picture to go with it. See the next lot over after this open lot belongs to a guy who owns the big building there and he hauls all this junk out and throws it down and the weeds and brush is all grown up. All we want is for him to clear out his junk then the Dentist will help get it cleaned up and I agreed to keep it mowed and clean so I can make a parking place for a couple cars behind my store, I wanted to buy the lot, but the dentist isn't ready to let me do that. Maybe later on.

No. 6. I mentioned trying Dr. Gott's no sugar, no flour diet. Been sticking to it pretty faithfully. Lost 6 lbs. so far. Slow and easy should be the best.

Had almost 6 in. of rain Fri. nite and Sat. morning. North of us got alot of flooding and over in Oklahoma again.

OK I am done for now. Oh, has anyone ever bought or sold a house on E-Bay??