House Changes--Part 3

My husband and I are in the process of house hunting. 

The Hunt

Nice trees helped make this house attractive.

After discussing it for a a couple of years, Ward and I were finally sitting around the dining room table with our real estate agent, Tom. Ward had given him general parameters of what we were looking for in geographic area and style. We wanted one level living with a workshop for Ward or a good lot to build one on. We still wanted a little land around us, but something definitely easier to take care of than we have now.  We also wanted to be within 30 minutes of my work. Tom came prepared with maps and listings for us to look at.

At first glance, it was discouraging. They rarely build ramblers in this area any more. They were common 40-50 years ago, but not so much now. Two-story giant houses are the name of the game around here these days. Many of the ramblers built long ago were chopped up with small rooms and needed a lot of work. However, he advised us to drive around some of the communities within our chosen radius and see what they look like. He also sent us with four listings he had found that we might be interested in.

The entire weekend we drove around looking at houses for sale. We saw at least a couple of dozen. And among all of those, we found two that we wanted to actually go into. We scheduled appointments for the next day and just a few hours before we were to see them, both were taken off the market. That was very discouraging because we had fallen in love with the pictures we had seen on the internet of one of them.

However the next day, Tom found one that was actually on the market for us to see. It was a flip that had been beautifully done, but it was not for us because it had a swimming pool. It was hard to walk away from because we knew it was a rarity, but we did.

And then it happened. When widening the search parameters (meaning going up in price a little), we saw a house that just might work. It was a well-built house in a nice neighborhood with all living on one level--even the laundry. (Not a common thing because most laundry rooms are in the basement.) But more importantly, it had a HUGE detached workshop. I think Ward's eyes glazed over when he saw it and the house faded into the background.

After we saw that house, we spent a sleepless night thinking about if we wanted to put an offer in on this one. While there were drawbacks (needs some work), we knew this was it. It fit every important criteria we had for a house.

But could I overcome the fact that it was a above the price range we had hoped for?

Until next time...

A Second Look--August 10, 2016

Here are a few things a saw this week 

during a Second Look.

Zinnia

Marigolds. I have a lot of marigolds this year and they all came from last years seeds as volunteers.

More big mushrooms/fungus sprung up almost overnight. Notice the 12" ruler for scale.

I got several begonias at the end of the planting season for half price and they're doing very well. However, the geraniums I also got on clearance don't look so good. But I'm still holding out hope for them.

Hydrangea. You can see that it was sprinkling when I took this picture.

Most of the coneflowers are drying up and turning to seed. Here's one that is a little behind schedule.

This box is full of noisy baby wrens. However since it only opens in the front, I haven't looked in. Several years ago I did that and all of the babies fell out. I managed to put them all back with success, but I don't the open box any any more when there is nesting going on. Just before I snapped this picture, the mother bird was peeking out the hole. Timing everything and it wasn't good this time.

However, I did manage to get a picture of the mother when she flew out of the box. The babies were really loud until she called something to them and then all of the cheeping stopped at once. I guess I represented stranger-danger.

How many butterflies can you see in this picture?