Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Monday, August 24, 2015


The latest in our saga:

Our POD -- packed tight -- is now somewhere between Maryland and Florida.  Unfortunately, our clean underwear is with it because in our zeal to get it packed and out of here, we overlooked a few small details.  Murphy's Law, y'know.  So now we're doing small batches of laundry every day.

We still do not have a place to land.  We made an application to an apartment complex that has a seven-month lease -- which would give us enough time to look around for a more suitable place.  Because of Kitty's leg (long-time followers may remember that saga from a few years ago) we need a first floor apartment and we're not sure if one will still be aailable by the time we move.  As I have mentioned, there is the option of moving into that large cardboard box under the bridge.

Christina and Walt were finally able to get a POD of their own in our driveway.  Their driveway was too steep for the truck to deliver a POD at their house.  This means is that they have to make a bajillion trips with their stuff to get it to (and in) their POD.  That's a five-mile trip each way with a pickup truck and a SUV.  They've got a lot of work to do because their POD is scheduled to be picked up tomorrow.

They were first scheduled to pass papers on their new house last Friday.  The date was then moved up a day to Thursday.  Then moved back.  Then back a bit further.  They have to coordinate their work schedules (no easy task).  Paperwork must be downloaded, signed and notorized, and then faxed to Florida.  With luck, that can be done today.

The kids start school tomorrow and will be here for a week or so and then start their new schools in Florida.  Christina expects to leave here on a Friday afternoon and drive straight through so the kids will start school there on the following Monday.

As for their current house, bad news.  Real estate prices have dropped about 50% in the nine years they have lived here.  (Thank you, George Bush.)  Christina and Walt will not be able to clear their mortgage when they sell.  (We're also losing about half the value of our house but at least we own our home outright and don't have to contend with a mortgage.)  Their home is also a unique property -- an octagonal glass home on a steep hill by the Chesapeake.  This means the standard home buyer would not be interested; they have to fnd just the right buyer.  Which means they need aggresive pricing and staging strategies.  This weekend we had the kids cutting and clearing brush and trees so the place would present well from the street.  Potential buyers can look up, see the gazebo by the layby halfway up the driveway and then see the house standing magnificently on the top of the hill, and say (hopefully), "Wow!"

Their house will not go on the market until they and all animals are safely ensconced in Florida.  Well, not all animals...the goats had to be re-homed.

As for us, things moved much faster on the septic front.  (Have you any idea how much willpower it took to resist typing "things flowed much faster on the septic front"?)  Our contractor was able rearrange his schedule.  Of course, the fix was not easy or cheap.  The board of health decreed that we needed an entirely new system with a larger tank.  (The system was nearly forty years old -- back in those days, requirements were evidently not as srtingent.  Note, however that we have never had a problem and our old system could easily have continued to work fine for years.)  Anyway, what we had hoped would be a couple of hundred dollars to fix has mushroomed to seventy-five hundred dollars.  Our back yard is now a sea of dirt and holes.  Work is expected to be completed and approved later today.   Between the septic work and the POD, Walt, Christina, and the septic contractor will have to coordinate their various tasks.  Once the septic system is completed, our buyer can then schedule an appraisal of the property.  We are still on target for a closing date of September 30 or sooner.

We still have a lot of work to do both here and at Christina's.

I broke a tooth and I need a root canal and a crown.  We'll worry about that in Florida.

Ceili's birthday is in a few days.  We'll have to slow down and celebrate that in a fitting fashion.

Blogging is still very erratic and probably will be until we're somewhat settled in Florida, although I will try to continue posting a Forgotten Book on Fridays.

That's it from Chaos Central.  I'll probably have more next week.


  1. Wow! What a bunch of headaches. Hope things settle into an easier pace.

  2. I admire your seeming calm. I'd be a screaming nutcase by now. Here's hoping things smooth our from here on.


  4. As Patti said. I'm half a nutcase (no smart-ass comments, please) just reading your pain. Yow. I sure do hope things get better for you, and SOON.