Trying to shed a little light/Counting down the days

Shedding light
Though we have found a family of fixtures that will meet our needs for all the common areas, I am still on the hunt for wall sconces to go on the landing at the foot of the stairs, and outdoor lights.

The landing shouldn't be too difficult, but everything I like costs considerably more than we're prepared to spend for such secondary lights, or else, they are too big. There are two boxes, one on each wall. I have been searching high and low for some I found through another blog, Hillsdale House.

They are a couple turning an ordinary tract house into a Craftsman Bungalow. They've been at it 5 years now. Granted, theirs has been a major renovation, involving adding a second story. They have been quite good at blogging all the stuff we house- and reno-obsessed folks like to read about in every detail. He is quite a woodworker, and has led to my having some new ideas. Anyway, he shopped for his lighting on-line, and found some nice wall sconces for their upstairs hall, these neat little black numbers, here. I would love to find something like that, with amber shades to match the ones we've already chosen.

Anyway, despite having reached the spot in his blog where he says he got the lights, I was not able to find them. But, I found something on-line from a Canadian retailer, no less, at a reasonable cost, that fits the bill. Here it is.

And, while searching, I stumbled upon the perfect outdoor light for the main door. It is beautiful, crafty- and organic-looking and it is a dark sky light! It is pricey, but I'm willing to spend a little more for such a significant piece. Plus, fluorescents will fit in it. For this one, I'll actually include the pix:


I think it's gorgeous. I just hope DS does, too. I don't think I'll tell her the cost, though...

As if all of this wasn't enough, while searching for the wall sconces, I found another Craftsman-style dark-sky light for the second door on the front of the house, and for the back of the house. I have no idea on cost, but it is a Meyda Tiffany and is made in the US, which will mean no duty. More plain, but those are secondary entrances, and therefore that's appropriate.
I also found a celing fan at Big Orange that would have been perfect, to a point. Here it is. Were it only the bottom up to the blades, I would jump on it. But that huge extra part on top means this thing will hang low enough to decapitate most guests...too bad, 'cause it's a good fit all 'round. There was even that 4-squares design on the blade holders. I can't find a pix of it on-line, though.

We may just have to go with the Seagull Lighting one; it's a little more expensive, but it is EnergyStar rated so there's that, anyway.

Three days to go

Today, I went and had lunch with DS as she was working nearby. On weekends, there's not many people around, so I can bring Duster, too. He loves going for the car ride, and exploring houses under construction. These days, many projects set aside the wood they can't use, but which might be useful to someone else. On this particular project, they don't have any such system, but anything in the dumpster is fair game. What happens is this: as each trade goes through, if they forget stuff or don't pick up after themselves when they're done, what's left goes in the dumpster. The job site foreman has no choice: if houses are not cleaned between trades, there's too much potential for injury.

DS had warned me that when I came, we'd load up the truck, and she was not kidding. We got at least 6 8-foot 2x2's, several full-length 2x4's. Two full length PT 4x4 posts, and a couple short lengths of cedar 4x4. A couple 6-foot pieces of 2x8 and a full 8-foot piece. But the piece de resistance is a full, whole, complete roll of roofing paper. Not the thin stuff you can get retail, the good, thick stuff. Amazing. On Friday night, I was watching a show hosted by Steve somebody, the guy from This Old House (the young one that followed Bob Vila). He does a show on green minded renovations. Anyway, this one guy building a house said one of the things they are doing is minimizing waste in their project. Apparently, another 30% of what actually goes into a house is tossed as waste during building. HUH!!???

So, on top of saving some money, we are also recycling. Every bit we pick out is another bit that can stay on the tree. With what we picked up, we likely will not have to buy a stick of wood to fix the framing under the south 2nd story window. The two 4x4's will be very handy as temporary posts for supporting the main beam while we replace the existing bit of wall with a new longer 2x6 framed wall. the 2x2's will be used to thicken the walls where we need to add insulation. The short bits of cedar will go into a culvert repair. Don't ask. That's a whole other blog post...

So, we're starting to get very excited about our upcoming vacation. We will finally be starting a real renovation project: enlarging the smallest bedroom to turn it into the master bedroom, and getting the hearth ready for the woodstove.

Only 3 more sleeps!

Floorplan changes, good septic news

While discussing the proposed floorplan with one SIL, she mentioned making the new DR table location open to the kitchen. This has always been our philosophy, because whenever you have a group of people over, they hang in/near the kitchen. The new flooplan did not allow for this, though.

Our original response was that this was not in the plans, but like many things, the idea percolated with me for a while. That concept has always been an important feature of any floorplan we developed, either when we were planning to build our own home, or making changes to this one.

'Way back when, I had originally thought to place the woodstove with its back to the wall between the open area and the master bedroom. I ruled that out for some reason, moving the woodstove across the room to the north wall. I think it had to do with my perception of how much space the chimney would take up on the second floor. So I got to thinking, if the woodstove goes with its back to our bedroom wall, we could build a masonry heat sink wall that would transfer heat to our bedroom, so long as the slab could stand the weight.

So, back to Sketchup. This is what the house looks like, as is:

Here is what was originally planned, showing the master and the main area:

(Sorry about the poor quality of this image. I can't figure out how to get SketchUp to give me better than this. I'll have to re-do it on HomeArchitect 3D)

Ultimately, the house will look pretty much like this. What's in the main entry area and kitchen may change somewhat, but the rest should pretty much end up like this:

The new arrangement addresses several shortcomings. There is more room for DS's desk, and several options of where to put it. The breakfast bar no longer sticks out into the space in front of the planned second doorway at the front of the house. We don't need a half wall to divide the space, and this combined with the new DR table placement achieves the goal of the table being open to the food prep area. It also moves the table back closer to the windows, to allow for viewing of birds and wildlife, as we can do now. It also places the woodstove more centrally in the floorplan, making for more even heat. Finally, it means we can prepare the area for the woodstove without having to futz around with the baseboard heating. In addition, it doesn't complicate life if we do eventually decide to put in a second-floor balcony on the north end of the house, overlooking the lake.

And, on Friday, I got very good news from the engineering firm. There had been a lot of back and forth discussion about providing them a copy of the survey, but I had found a to-scale print I had made of the section showing the house. I was no longer sure if he wanted me to send a better version, so I e-mailed them. I figured it wasn't a bad idea to mention timeframes, either, given the discrepant info we had been given.

The reply came quickly: yes, please, send a different version of the survey - done. And, more importantly, our report will be ready by the end of the first week of August, as they have prioritized it! They will fax a copy to the municipality. If we can get copies of it from the town office, then maybe we can get the two contractors to visit to provide estimates before we leave. If we can do that, we may still be able to get it installed at the end of August/beginning of September! That would be awesome.

And now we're up to date

We tackle one renovation project that can no longer wait: the south window on the second floor. The thermopane is shot, and the frame has been leaking. This is where the humidity has been getting into the wood, making it attractive for the carpenter ants. We begin pulling off the tongue and groove paneling and realize that unlike that on the ground floor which is pine, this is all cedar. Behind the T & G is strapping, behind that black-coated sonopan, and finally the 2 x 4 stud wall. The insulation is blown-in fiberglass mixed with sawdust. Beyond the stud wall is another layer of sonopan, then the cedar shingles.

A section of this wall below the left corner of the window is so rotted, we do not need tools to remove anything; we could punch a hand right to the outdoors without fear of injury. Now, many folks would cry at finding this, but we are nonplussed. This is no worse than what we found under a bay window in the bedroom of our house in the city, and we fixed that ourselves no problem. We had already assumed that the insulation on the second floor would need to be addressed, and it’s what DS does for a living. In fact, we are pleased that the area is not as big as what we anticipated to find.

The window has not been properly installed, though: there is no gap for insulation between the window frame and the stud wall. Clearly, the work we will do in the coming months will save us a bundle on heating costs over the years.

Wanting to be sure about the extent of the damage, we remove the adjoining section of grey-painted plywood that is the flooring of the finished space. Below it, we find black roofing paper. Lifting the paper, we find maple boards, nailed with about a 1/8” gap between them. Wow. A hardwood board subfloor. And planed on at least one side. We need to cut one board to make sure the bottom members of the truss have not been affected by the rot and ants. DS checks the depth so she can set her sawblade. 1 ¼”?? that can’t be right! But it is. The second floor subfloor is nearly 2x4 maple, planed on one side. Nailed in place 30 years ago, they are now better than kiln-dried and worth a small fortune to a woodworker such as DS.

We are considering replacing all that maple with T & G ply.

The most important thing that got done this past trip, though, is the visit by the engineering firm as the first step for the septic system install. The test digs reveal we cannot put in a leaching bed, or even a polishing bed because of the proximity of the bedrock and the poor soil quality. However, the stream runs adjacent and the volume is many times that needed for discharge of the treated wastewater into the stream, so long as we install what is called a Secondary Advanced treatment system. Which is what we wanted to install anyway. The final test hole revealed that the vein of bedrock that we feared was blocking the path between the house and the new septic tank location is the kind that breaks apart, so dynamiting should not be necessary. Hopefully, the new system will be up and running by Thanksgiving. The longest delay will be waiting for the engineer's report.

Fast forward: April to July 2008

The utility trailer we've been using (given to us free) needs complete reworking of the wood and wiring and is missing several lights; it has no springs, which is not a problem when full, but not fun to haul when empty. More importantly, a 4x8 sheet does not fit in it. The repair work is planned for this summer, and is the reason why we took a welding course in the fall of 2006. DS spots a utility trailer at Big Orange, big enough to place a 4x8 sheet in, and it has springs. It is reasonably priced and not heavy. It is also galvanized. And, we have yet another 'no payments no interest' offer from them. We buy it.

The mousetraps were reinstalled in March, but have remained empty for more than a month. We have licked the rodent problem and we can now safely go shopping for a real bed. We have been sleeping on an inflatable mattress for close to a year. It's okay, but very cold when we arrive at midnight in the winter. Timing is everything; we take advantage of yet another firm's no interest offer and haul the new mattress down in the new trailer.

Our intial thought is to use whatever money left over from the sale of the property not eaten up by the septic system to put a downpayment on a tractor. We even go shopping for estimates. At the same time, we're shopping woodstoves again. After research, we narrow it down to a few, and go visit two local retailers. I'm thinking DS is going to want a Jotul, as they look most like the VC we had picked, or a PE Alderlea, as you can swing out the top grill and cook on the top of it. I am leaning towards the Alderlea, but the model we are most considering does not come in an enamel finish, which is an important consideration. When we actually get to see all the stoves, though, we both fall in love with the Hearthstone soapstone stoves. There isn't much cost difference, you can cook on them, and what cast iron is on them can be had enamelled in one of several colors. Finally, our choice is made...again. Here it is:



More mulling over the snow removal option eventually leads us to the conclusion that to buy a tractor now would not be the best use of our money. First off, because we've had less time to save, we're looking at $400 monthly payments if we want interest-free. This scares us both. Second, it will sit idle 90% of the time, not to mention being vulnerable to being stolen. Not a worry we want. Finally, it will likely cost us about $400 to have the local guy clear the snow for us for the number of times we'll go up, and the bonus to this is there'll be no more walking in at midnight. We'll be able to drive right to the door. We are relieved.

After considering options, we decide that upgrading the insulation on the second floor, and changing out the south window that is leaking is the best investment for whatever cash is left after the septic and woodstove are installed. I want R-50 in the ceilings and R 20 or 22 in the walls. And a vapour barrier. DS thinks R-50 is overkill, until she learns that this is the Energy-Star standard in homes being built now. R 22 is their rating for walls. Despite insulation being her trade, the ceilings are always blown in, and this is done by another crew, so she wasn't current on what was being done. We're still not in agreement on how this will be accomplished.

I'm prepared to pull up all the boards in the side crawlspaces and add to R-50. She feels that will be a ginormous amount of work, and will rob us of valuable storage space. My argument is that we have 3 years before we will have the cash for any major renos, all we have is time, and I have a plan for the storage issue. We'll work it out; we always do.

We finally gather the courage to attack the attic of the garage. We throw all the metal for salvage out the second-story hatch and end up with quite a pile. There are several drive shafts, sundry parts for an old tractor, an old humidifier, dented front and rear chrome bumpers from an old Ford, and many other similar 'finds'. I come across the pump hose and nozzle from an old gas pump and decided to set it aside for E-Bay. You never know. Anything containing aluminum or copper we also set aside, as their prices have skyrocketed. This includes a few old radiators.

There is also a lot of junk in the garage attic, and the new trailer is shown the road to the dump. By the time we're done, it has cost us about $100, plus gas, to haul all the junk left behind when we took possession. All the hazardous waste gets transported to the garage in the village, who is the local drop-off point. No charge. The metal, we will sell. It has taken our time and effort, but since we didn't have the money to begin any substantial renovations, it has kept us busy. Financially, we will come out ahead.

We embark on the clean-up of the back clearing. This is a veritable 'gold mine' of scrap metal. An old oil tank, several I-beams of various sizes, one with a small bulldozer track welded down it's length...what is that about? An old trailer frame, wheels still on it. We learn they no longer turn when we hitch it up and haul it out. No matter. We load it and haul it down to the garage, where we have collected all the scrap while waiting to be ready to have the dumpster delivered.

We fire up the bulldozer and collect the last few items in the clearing. The most challenging is a 9' wide snowblower, suitable for clearing snow on a municipal scale. It was probably placed on the edge of the clearing, but that was years ago, and it is now in the edge of the forest.

We had already taken off the snow chute and the frame for attaching it to the vehicle. WD-40 is truly a miraculous substance, loosening off bolts we were certain would never move again. Finally, we're left with the carcass: two huge snow- and ice-chomping augers and the main transmission/fan at the back of the unit. We chain up one end to the bulldozer and pull it out of the forest. Changing the angle of the pull, we spin the snowblower so now we can bring the blade of the 'dozer right up to the augers. We chain it on and cross our fingers. The ass end of the 'dozer lifts a little, but it picks up the snowblower. We feel triumphant as the ‘dozer carries this monstrosity to the junk staging area. Finally, the clearing is devoid of all scrap metal.

We have purchased our first chainsaw and have begun teaching ourselves how to use it, with help from research and family. We cleared away the junk brush along the south side of the stream below the falls and cleaned up a trail we found. We have also collected two cords of stovewood by cutting up two trees the beavers felled for us in the summer of 2007 and collecting a number of standing deadwood white birch near the house.

Fast forward: November 2007 to March 2008

The lake ices over in November, and it begins to snow. City folk predict it will melt. One old-timer says that the snow has not melted on the big rocks on his property, and that usually means it will stay. Score one for the old-timer. It snows all winter, heavily. Several records are broken, many others come very close to it. Everyone is astounded at the volume of snow, as the past years have been quite sparse by comparison. We figure that we are experiencing the greatest snowfall we are likely to experience in the years we will live here, and decide we can cope.

Many times we arrive at midnight, walk in, and deal with the snow the next day. Sometimes we call the local guy and have him clear the whole drive, particularly when there has been a lot of drifting and our 30" snow blower just doesn't have the muscle. We begin to think we need to buy the compact farm tractor sooner rather than later.

We are also developing relationships with the local business folk. A couple times, because of the timing of our visits, the response to enquiries about payment are "pay me next time you come up". We do, without fail. These are relationships you want to preserve, and we want to have a reputation for honesty. There may be times in the future when having that reputation will weigh in our favour. We do likewise with the municipal taxes, following up when we don't get a bill, and paying without delay when we do.

We buy snowshoes and spend many hours traipsing through the woods, exploring every corner of our property, and a few corners of the adjoining ones as well. We do feel a little guilty trespassing, but not enough to stop. We decide next year we will obtain permission, as it really is great to spend hours outdoors.

The departure of his canine friend and the arrival of the snow have made it more difficult for Duster to burn off the youthful Lab energy he possess in seemingly limitless quantities. The morning and evening walks just don't give him what he needs. We replace the walks with snowshoeing and that does the trick. Generally preferring to trailbreak or explore the woods either side of the trail, he drops back to second in line when he gets tired. By the end of the winter, he is learning not to follow too closely. Most of the time. Trying to take a step with a 50-lb-becoming-90-lb dog perched on the back of your snowshoe is a surefire recipe for a face-plant in the snow.

We do a little work inside, but not much. We finish washing out the last remaining cupboards in the entry hall. We remove the non-functioning food disposal and regain the second bowl of our double-bowl kitchen sink. Big Orange helps by sending us more offers for year-long periods without interest and we pick up a new kitchen faucet.

We have been looking for lighting fixtures that we both like, generally fit with the Craftsman look, and won't break the bank. Apart from one over the DR table and one in the kitchen ceiling, the remaining fixtures are either bare bulb or bare fluorescent tubes. We finally see an ad for a new line, available at the local hardware store. We begin by buying two, and I am finally able to rid our 'bedroom' of the chandeliers I can't stand. There is no discussing taste, as one SIL has asked for them and can't wait 'til BIL can install them.

We also spend a lot of time shopping woodstoves. Originally, the plan had been to buy one of the big old-fashioned style cookstoves. We have come to realize, however, that they are not primarily heating appliances and therefore will not meet our needs. We reluctantly begin searching for an alternative. We settle on a Vermont Castings unit, and nearly buy it, but hold off. A little later on, more research reveals that they are not the quality units they once were, the company is in bankruptcy protection, and we need something bigger than what we had chosen. Back to the drawing board.

We also begin to discuss selling the original 5 acres we had bought years ago, to fund the spetic system that needs to be done. We keep getting told of persons interested in purchasing it. This is problematic. We closed on that property the day before my MIL died. DS, the baby of the family, was quite attached to her mom. She had often mentioned that her mother had always wanted a weeping willow but never got one. The afternoon of the day she died, I took DS to our land with a weeping willow purchased at a local garden centre and we planted it. Seven years later, we are making inquiries into getting the tree moved and are getting varying responses. It is also now clear that the tree was mislabelled and is not a weeping willow, but some other willow, as yet undetermined.

Ultimately, we take cuttings from the tree and plant them in appropriately damp spots on the new land. On a return visit two weeks later, we are convinced they will not survive. Three very rainy weeks after that, all of the cuttings are thriving. The weather has been less than ideal, but the trees love it. In addition, the niece and her husband are posted overseas for 4 years. They had been the first to mention being interested in buying the land if we decided to sell, and the timing is perfect. They have somewhere to park their equity, we have the money to get the septic done, and more time to decide if we want to try getting the original tree moved.

A 'poorly-plowed road'

It took until Labour Day weekend for DD and her SO to be able to get up to the cottage, what with his school and work schedule, and her low seniority for vacation. They fell in love with the place, and DD wants the wedding to be in the clearing at the corner of the drive. It's actually an excellent choice: there's a path that leads from the house to that clearing, there's a line of trees with a natural break in the middle, perfect for a 'wedding arch', and the clearing slopes gently downwards, so everyone will have a great view.

Once they see the place, everyone is agreed that the family holiday celebration will be there. When the time comes, we leave on the Friday evening; they will follow once he finishes work late Saturday afternoon, driving my SUV. They have detailed written directions. Because the 'nightlight' on the house is burned out, we tell them to call from the village from their cellphones and we will head out to the end of the driveway with the truck so they will know where to turn. We get a call around half-past midnight; they want to check to make sure they've made the right turn. They are about a half hour away, and on the right road.

We settle back under the covers, hoping for a little nap before the next call. 10 minutes later, the phone rings again, and this is not a good sign. "Mom, the road got really rough, then really narrow, and it wasn't well plowed. We tried to turn around, but we got stuck. We're going to try to dig out, but we'll call again if we can't." I hang up and relay this information to DS. A short discussion leads us to the conclusion that they made their next turn too soon, and are likely on a snowmobile trail. We chuckle, but are concerned at how far they may have gotten and how stuck they may well be. DS suggests we get up and start getting dressed now, in anticipation of the inevitable call. I vote for 5 more minutes under the covers.

The next call comes, right on schedule. I pass the phone to DS, who knows the road and what questions to ask to pin down their location. Our mood is lighthearted as we get dressed and head out with flashilights, shovels, traction aids and firewood for traction, just in case. We park in a round-about where the trail begins and walk in. It is quite a cold night, beyond -20 celsius, but in the trees as we are, there is no wind so it is quite nice. The sky is clear, and we enjoy the walk. We marvel at the fact that they managed to drive a few hundred yards before deciding to turn around. One wheel of the SUV is in the soft, ungroomed snow off the trail. By the time we arrive, they have figured out where they went wrong, what they're on, and have begun using branches under the tires to help in traction. What more could a parent hope for?

With three of us pushing and DS at the wheel, we manage to get the SUV unstuck and turned around. It takes about 15 minutes. Once she gets it going in the right direction, DS doesn't stop until she's off the trail and back onto the road. We walk out, pile back into the vehicles, and head for home.

Sitting around the table with hot cocoa, laced with Bailey's, and snacks, they are starting to see the humour, but just. We alter plans for tomorrow's festivities, since an early rise is out of the question for all of us. Privately, DS and I laugh as we imagine the puzzled faces of the folks using the trail the next day.

Fast forward: April to October 2007

After a failed attempt to sterilize the well, we dump two gallons of bleach down it and let it sit for a couple days. Finally, a month later, our lab results come back 100% clean. It takes a little time to drink tap water without thinking about it, though.

We spend a week of vacation building a shed for friends. In the rain. It turns out well. We then spent two and a half days breaking apart the stone and mortar exterior of the fireplace. Hard work, involving many trips to dump lawn-tractor-trailer sized loads of rocks and cement back in the clearing. And messy, despite having taped up poly walls to minimize the dust. Sure enough, the firebox was leaking. The dissenting friends and family finally accept we were right.

We take down the 6' diameter satellite dish perched on the lawn between the house and the lake, right outside the south LR window. Clearly, it had not been used for years, as there is a much smaller elliptical dish affixed to the side of the house, at shoulder level right next to the patio door. Yet, there it still stood.

We spend a fair amount of time closing up the areas where the attic of the house are open to the not-at-all-air-and-mouse-tight woodshed. We find other smaller openings and use spray foam insulation, metal flashing and metal tape. Finally, by October, we think we have the problem licked, but it's hard to tell. There won't be much mouse activity until spring. After a month of empty traps, we pick them up.

We begin to clean out the garage, sorting into metal for selling for salvage, garbage for trips to the dump and hazardous waste. Trips to the dump are 40 minutes round trip, and we are charged based on weight. Each trip costs us about $20 and we make three while clearing out the ground floor of the garage. The attic remains, but we put it off. We finally get up the courage to round up all the beer bottles and cans that had been left behind and bring them for refund. More than $12 worth. At 5 cents each, that's 240. Just for fun, all the money from beer and soft drink container refunds goes into our stove fund. DD decides to save all hers and donate them to the fund as well, so we find ourselves importing pop cans over provincial borders. Hopefully this is not some sort of offence ;-)

We face the reality that our Saint's hips are not good, and getting worse. We decide we will not put him through another winter. We spend one weekend at the property without him and decide the house, dogless, is just not the same. We keep our eyes open for a suitable mixed breed pup and find a yellow Lab/Bernese cross born in early April. Duster comes home with us in mid-June, and we find ourselves travelling with two canines. We feel like a roadshow at rest stops.

Buddy's health takes a turn for the worse in early August, and we have him euthanized in mid-September, then head straight to the cottage. Duster, who has been looking for his friend, jumps out of the car and runs around looking. He does a complete circle of the cottage twice, something he has never done before. We all grieve, and slowly adapt.

After me hounding for months, we finally complete the fireplace demolition. The first section of insulated chimney comes off easy, as the chimney caulking has cracked and is easily accessible. The next section, the one going through the ceiling into the attic, takes us three hours. By the time we're done, the top of the section that inserts into the next section looks like it was removed by beavers. We lay heavy planks across the trusses to support and close off the chimney section running from the attic out the roof, which we will remove next summer, and we close up the hole in the ceiling of the LR. Not pretty, but a vast improvement. We have also learned there is no vapour barrier, and a huge gap between the big beam and the attic space.

Just as we remove the chimney and firebox, the sun peeks through the patio doors and our efforts are rewarded. Despite the 3' x 4' hole in the vinyl flooring in the middle of the space, it is a vast improvement. We later find the missing piece of vinyl flooring in the attic and install it. Not a perfect fit, but better than concrete. The one downside is that our bedroom space is now out in the open.

A design vision is born

DS works in construction, and as a result, I get to see a lot of new housing go up. Shortly after we took possession of 'the cottage', she was on a higher-end project where the designs are heavily Craftsman-influenced. Browsing through the Homes section of the paper one morning, I came across an ad for the development. The look of the houses caught my eye, and the rooflines were quite similar to those on the cottage. I showed it to her, to see what she thought of the 'look' and she mentioned she had worked there, and liked it very much. We took a drive out to see the houses and decided that this is what we would aim towards.

Turns out, the original owner may have been influenced by the same style. The gable ends of the house are cedar shingle up top and pine board horizontal siding down below; the original roof was cedar shingles. The entry door is 42" wide, and has a little bit of a Craftsman look to the portico. Granted, the blue color makes it hard to imagine, but here's a photo:
The window in the carport is the kitchen. The window faces roughly NE, so there is little to no natural light in the kitchen, my one major complaint. DS knows too many horror stories of skylights leaking, so they are verboten. There is a new house just outside a neighbouring village that was built in the Craftsman style as well, and it has a long roofline like ours. There is a flat dormer window in their roof that is is low and wide, and I suspect it is to give natural light to a stairwell or some such. I see something like that on this house, just over the kitchen, to get me that natural light.

Of course, that carport roofline is going to be altered. Not only is it UGLY, but it is such a low slope that snow has to be shovelled off it. It was clearly an afterthought, and we'd like to be able to relocate the carport, or do away with it, but there really is no alternative. We plan on living here 'til we die, and when we're 80, and sooner even, we'll want somewhere sheltered for the car in the winter.

I'd like to extend the peaked roof to form a gable over the door and a porch with some of those heavy beams and wide base supports. Also, extend the peak's height so that the carport is covered. This will give the house that historical double-gable look.

Over time, by considering what has already been done in the house and the changes we want to make, and combining these with ideas from browsing the web and magazines and books I have begun to acquire, I have developed a vision for the interior as well. DS has succumbed to my fervor. So long as we're not spending money just to get 'a look', she's okay with it. Google's SketchUp helped a lot in that regard. I was able to really show her the floor plan I had developed and the space usage, with the Crafstman touches I envisioned.

A friend visited us recently. We learned that he is essentially doing the same thing with his home as he renovates, turning a ranch into a Bungalow. He asked if I wanted some 5-panel doors, circa 1907/12? Turns out his local historical society had 'rescued' them during the demolition of a local convent and now needed the storage space. He learned of them too late to use them in his house. 36" wide and 84" tall, we will need to re-frame every doorway. DS rolled her eyes, but I said I would do it myself if I had to. They were mine for a $10 donation each to the historical society.

They were delivered a few weeks ago in the back of his pick-up. Some still have the original handles, but the rectangular plates (escutcheons?) are all gone. They had huge mortises cut for the locks, about 6" high. Some have been filled in, some not. It will take some creativity, but I can address all those issues. I started stripping one on our last visit. They are a fairly close-grained wood with a reddish/pinkish tint. I'm thinking mahogany, but am not sure. The nicks and dents give them character. I cannot believe I was this lucky!

This find is even doubly fortuitous: shortly after we took possession, a friend who visited and co-owns a door factory mentioned she had a 5-panel frosted glass door someone had ordered but not taken. I was looking to replace the door of the sewing room at the end of the hall, to allow the light from that room's south-facing window to reach the hallway at the centre of the house. Not being one to spend money that does not need to be spent, I had resigned myself to having that one non-matching door and keeping the rest of the doors. They are all solid pine, in a standard 5-panel configuration. Now all the doors will be the same configuration. Getting the same color will take some doing, though.

The main space in the home is essentially open, comprising of the kitchen, dining area and living room. It is huge, 24 x 45, with only one wall jutting into the space but not fully enclosing the kitchen. Smack dab in the middle of this beautiful open space, blocking the light from the 6' patio doors was this huge stone and mortar fireplace. See what I mean?

(that's Buddy, my boy, standing in the middle of the LR. He went to the Rainbow Bridge a few months after this photo was taken. I still miss him terribly.)

While washing the walls and ceilings, I realized that there was too much soot on the ceiling to just be from opening and closing the fireplace doors. The mortar between the rocks was cracked in a lot of places, there were loose rocks, and we guessed the firebox was leaking. When we would mention to the family we were going to get rid of the fireplace, they would say, "but why? it's so beautiful!" But we couldn't wait to get started on it. We planned on replacing it with a woodstove, more efficient, better-situated, and cleaner-burning.

See that enclosed beam running along the ceiling just behind the fireplace? It is a 6 x 9 hardwood beam, roughsawn. We are going to expose it and smooth down the surface facing the floor, but not too smooth. The sides will be covered with wide planks. I still can't believe they boxed it in. Not to mention, there is a huge gap between the drywall and the beam, and no vapour barrier. In the winter, our heating goes right up to under the LR roof and forms an ice dam in the N valley between the main roof and LR roof. When this starts to melt, it leaks down into the LR. This is easily enough solved, but like many other such issues in this house, nothing was done.

Like the fireplace, everyone loves the floor to ceiling wood panelling. Except me. I find it too much. Also, it has yellowed over time. The plan is to remove it, but re-use it by flipping it over and re-install it as wainscotting (it's planed on both sides, lucky us!) It may also get stained or oiled.

We're planning for a built-in bookcase and desk/storage area under the stairs, which we will enclose to minimise heat loss, a built-in daybed with hidden DVD storage, and built-in TV/Entertainment centre as well.

It really is too bad. This house has so much to offer and has been neglected. It's in good hands now, though.

You know you've picked a rural setting when...

We are making our second trip to 'the cottage' as we have now begun calling it. We left about 6:00 PM, and is it past midnight. DS has handed me the wheel, because she was getting sleepy. Now her job is to watch the ditches for the glint of eyes alerting us to the possibility of an unexpected deer or moose crossing.

About 2 km from the border crossing, she warns me just as I see a glint of eyes. I slow down, and a large, gangly shadow detaches itself from the others. An adolescent moose trots out onto the road just ahead of us. He turns away from the car, and starts an ungainly trot down the road. DS describes him, quite aptly, as 'running in high heels'. In reality, it could easily be a she. The moose is keeping to the right, so I pull into the passing lane and begin to accelerate a bit. Moose decides to hog the centre line, so I pull back. DS explains that moose have been known to charge a car that is following too closely. "What is 'too closely' from the perspective of a moose?" I wonder, but I back off.

Despite there being no other vehicles for miles around, we crawl along at 15 km/hr, following this young moose for some time. We crack jokes about his having been at the local bar taking advantage of his new-found liberty, mom having just set him loose. Finally, he turns left up a drive and disappears into the brush at the back of the lot just as quickly as he came.

The next morning, we are treated to a return visit from the River Otters, as well as several pairs of ducks. DS gets out her bird books. We have several species of ducks on the lake. Later that day, DS is headed into town for something and when she comes back, she describes having stopped to let a grouse cross the road in no big hurry. We are thrilled at all of these sightings.

By the time of our next visit, the ice is out of the lake and snow in the bush has melted enough that we can go hunting for our survey markers to load them onto our GPS. The otters are gone, but there are Canada Geese in their place.

One morning, I awaken and roll over to check out the lake. There, perched at the end of our deck is a groundhog with two pups. Cute, but not the best critters to have so close to a house built on a slab foundation. We will have to do something about Murphy and family, as he comes to be named. (Murphy, the marmotte) Later that day, just how much of a city girl I am becomes apparent: I am excited to see a beaver swimming by in our lake, not 20' away. Gordon, it turns out, is not alone: Francine is with him (named after Frank and Gordon, the Sympatico spokesbeavers)

Over the summer, my joy at seeing this couple turns to irritation, then animosity, as I spend many hours toiling to take apart their dam, only to rise the next morning to see it rebuilt. We could set our clocks by these two: they start their shift at 7 PM, and work until 7 AM. I must admit, though, that along with my cursing of these industrious rodents there is an admiration at the engineering knowledge that goes into their dams. They are not easy to take apart, and are very good at holding back the waters. Were it not for the danger to the footings of one of our Hydro poles perched on the edge of the lake, I would likely let them be. It becomes the summer of 'Beaver Wars'. By necessity, the trapper has the last word once the season opens. I am saddened by the thought, but am learning to accept that some things must be thus.

The adventure begins

Friday morning we wake up, our first morning in the new place. The kitchen isn't clean enough for cooking, so we head back to town for brekkie again. By this time, everyone knows who we are. We chuckle.

The fridge is to be delivered the following week. The plan had been to buy a used stove locally. However, there are few used stoves available, and they are asking almost the price of new. DS goes shopping for a new stove while I stay behind and clean.

At noon, DS is back. Turns out she hasn't even been to town. She had car trouble on the way, and has spent all morning at the garage in a village close by. Luckily, the repair has involved more time than money. After lunch, she heads out again, determined to make it to town this time. I decide to rip up carpets, which proves to be a good choice!

While ripping up carpet in the master bedroom, I notice paper on the floor in the closet, under the carpet I have begun to pull up . I pick it up, and it seems to be an accounting of money in and money out. A few inches away, I notice something just peeking out from under the edge of the carpet I'm lifting. It turns out to be a cache of money, clearly long since forgotten. Not a fortune, but enough to pay for the stove with a little left over for our woodstove fund. I am excited by this, but have no way to tell DS, because we don't have a phone, and the cellphones don't catch a signal.

Now, some folks might say that the proper thing to do would be to give the money back. I am a principled person, but I have no guilt over keeping this little find, and here's why: the vendor tried to get away with a property boundary dispute he knew existed. Had we agreed to a survey after closing, we would have been stuck with the costs of addressing that, to the tune of several thousand dollars. Remember the 'no legal guarantee'? Well, that works both ways. In addition, we have seen signs of carpenter ants, something with which we are familiar from our current residence. It's a problem that can be fixed, but could be costly. Whether they knew about them or not is moot, it's on us to bear those costs. I sleep just fine at night, thank you very much.

When DS arrives, she has purchased a brand new stove at a very reasonable cost, and it will be delivered the next day. She is pleased with herself, having had to make an 'executive decision' in the process. I steal her thunder with news of my find. She doesn't mind one bit. Thereafter, she goes through every single item we have already ditched and those we're about to throw out, seeking more cash.

A SIL, a nephew and his wife show up on the Saturday to help clean and cart all the junk out of the house. We make a pile. It is quite impressive, as you can see:
They inform us that the municipality runs a service and will pick up household waste at the end of the drive, or at the door if you have enough, free of charge. Terrific! We won't have to hire a dumpster.

In the cupboards below the counter in the kitchen, among myriad other places, we find plenty of mouse droppings. Clearly it is a long-standing problem and no effort has been made to address it. In one cupboard we find a box of Baker's chocolate, packaging circa the 1980's, with a gnawed corner. Yuck.

Despite all of this, we are not regretting our purchase at all. Ultimately, it takes several visits to get everything clean, but it's well worth it. And, you know who your friends really are by who shows up to help.

Once we start cleaning, we reconsider our sleeping arrangements. The not-nice son had the master bedroom, and we can't bring ourselves to set up in there. The second largest room is also suspect: it has a lock on the door, keyed from the hallway. The sliding window is siliconed in place open only a smidge, and there is what looks like an oversized scraper, home-made and very heavy, about 2' long, clearly used for propping up against the door from the inside to prevent unauthorized entry. We don't know what went on in there, and we don't want to know.

The third room is barely 8' wide, and we find a dead and decomposed mouse on the floor in the closet. We decide that we like sleeping in front of the patio door.

Part of the planning had included buying security film for the windows, and we get that installed the first week as well. We also secure all the other entrances as well. We are itching to begin renovating, but there are many things to do first.

We also take time out to enjoy the property, going for frequent walks to explore sections we haven't even checked out. A custom develops: after breakfast, we head out for a walk with the dog and our coffee, heading out to the road and back. We do the same just before or after dinner, sometimes varying our destination to the clearing, or around the lake. Dogs are creatures of habit, and we get told if he finds we're dawdling over breakfast.

The natural benefits of this property are becoming apparent: DS has spotted a River Otter and his lady love frolicking about in the open water and on the nearby ice where a stream feeds our lake. We spend lots of time with the binoculars.

We also realize that somewhere, somehow, between the city and this property, there is a space-time warp, and the property is actually at the North Pole. When we arrived, snow had receded to several feet from the edges of the drive and the spring thaw had begun. Two days later, it begins to snow, and it doesn't stop until several days after we leave. We even have to get the bulldozer out to clear the drive. DS's learning curve on it is steep.

How we survived the 'pregnancy'...

...and other odds and ends.

Not long after we first viewed the property, I had to give myself a stern talking to. It was becoming clear that the acquisition of this property was going to be more of a process than an event and I am not the most patient person in the world. Ultimately, it took 9 months from the time we saw the ad, to closing. A term pregnancy. There were a few times that we feared the deal would fall through, but we just kept believing. There were times when we would give ourselves a shake and try to change our mindset, knowing that if things didn't work out for whatever reason, we would be in for 'lunchbag letdown' of indescribable proportions. Try as we might, it never worked.

From the minute we first laid eyes on it, we began to believe it would be ours. Not hope. Not think. Believe. Really, truly, believe. We were powerless to do otherwise, it seemed. We planned, we dreamed, we sketched, we shopped. It was never 'if' we get it. It was always 'when we get it'. DS' family is close, and when we all get together, we are 40+ people. The past few family celebrations had been at rented premises. This house could accommodate everyone for the party, and overnight!

When we did the inspection, we took detailed measurements so that we could estimate the cost of the work that needed to be done. And so I would have something to do to keep me busy. DS calls me the queen of planning. Before we found this property, I spent hours keeping myself out of trouble by designing floorplans for our future retirement home. Each time I showed DS and said 'this is it' she would smile, provide her input, and wait until the next time. She teases me, but this trait has served us well in the past, too, and she acknowledges it. Much as her penchant for hoarding toilet paper has served us well, but I digress.

Armed with measurements, we realized that the dimensions of the kitchen, and the layout, were very similar to the one we had just finished renovating in our current home. DS and I have very different tastes, so it takes some doing to find the middle ground. And since we don't believe in spending money we don't need to spend, finding what we can both agree on at a price we're willing to pay can be quite the task. Choosing a backsplash for the kitchen had been particularly time-consuming and challenging, but we had eventually found something we both loved, and for a song, because the tile line was discontinued. In fact, we love our entire kitchen so much, it was the one negative aspect to this acquisition: we would not get to enjoy it for the 8 years we had foreseen.

So, true to our mindset of 'it's ours', the weekend after our offer was accepted, but months before conditions cleared, we went out and bought enough tile for the backsplash in the new place. In fact, we cleared them out of it. This was very much against our usual pragmatic approach, but we were powerless to do otherwise. Try as we might, we could never consider that this might not all work out.

The weekend we had done the inspection, we had also taken a few pictures. DS is the photographer of the family and does extremely well, but this time, I happened to luck out. It was a breezy morning when we went to take the water sample, but one of the photos I snapped showed a mirror-calm lake. In fact, it's the one in my first post. We had that photo enlarged and laminated. Twice. We put one up on the wall just outside the kitchen door, where we would see it every time we came downstairs, or came or left the kitchen. I kept the other in my office. That photo became our computer desktops. We would look at it and sigh, imagining our golden years there.

And we planned and shopped and planned some more. Say what you will about Big Orange, but they have financed all our home renovations at zero interest, and we appreciate it. That trend continued with us buying a new shower for the upstairs bath, and various other items. In January, months before closing. It stood in the corner of our living room until the end of March, keeping the tiles company. When the day to pack up and head to the closing finally arrived, it was not a day too soon. The living room and hallway had long since stopped looking like a home and had taken on the airs of a big-box home improvement centre as we took advantage of bargains we came across that fit our vision, such as it was at the time.

We also buy a fridge. It took some doing to find a small, Energy-Star rated fridge, but we did finally find one at Sears. We place the order on-line, and using their nifty little calendar utility, we select delivery for the day after closing. Except they try to deliver it on the Wednesday, a week before closing. Luckily, no one is home. We had left a SIL's number with them and she calls, saying she's had a call from Sears. After several phone calls back and forth, we arrange for delivery the Wednesday after closing. Seems Wednesday is the only day for delivery to our area. Ah yes, a subtle reminder that we are choosing to leave behind some of the conveniences of city life.

We also put in a lot of hours at all manner of Home Renovation and Cottage Living Exhibitions. And we began saving every penny for kayaks.

Now, some people love a challenge, and I'm one of those people. We have always known that we would leave this area when we retired. One of my concerns about that was my daughter, who began her working career in the spring of 2005. As I have already noted, this area's real estates costs are amongst the highest in the country. Some folks pay their kids' way through college, but I have never believed in that, and even if I had, I was not in a position to do so at the time. But, early in 2006, I saw an opportunity for her and for myself. A newspaper article spoke of a special assisted home ownership condo building going up right downtown, in a very desirable area. We made some enquiries and crunched the numbers. If I gifted her the downpayment, she could handle the rest. And I could leave the area knowing that come what may, I had done what I could to see she was settled in and had a roof over her head. So she signed on, and I committed to forking over a good chunk of change.

So, on top of the purchase of the dream property, I had to be able to meet my commitment to my daughter. We very nearly cancelled the deal, forfeiting the deposit we'd made, when my daughter got laid off due to downsizing in the summer of '06. Our esthetician, a very savvy businesswoman, talked us out of it. You know how people say every cloud has a silver lining? Well, this one sure did. It ended up that my daughter went from that first fairly low-paying job to a contract job at better pay, followed by an extension, followed by a permanent job with even better pay, benefits and opportunities for advancement! She was now earning enough money that I wouldn't even have to sign as guarantor on her mortgage!

For a while, I had to cut some corners pretty tight, but it all worked out in the end. We closed in March of '07, and she got her condo later that same year. In fact, things have really worked out. Daughter is very happily in love with a young man who lives down the street from us. They both love this neighbourhood, and the plan is they will buy this house from us at a fair market value when we head to the rural property. This is such a great neighbourhood, they will be the third such second-generation residents on our street. And, in a turn of events, for the year I come back to work, I will inhabit the basement space my daughter inhabited when she lived in this house with us.

Part 4: Closing

We're waiting on final confirmation of the closing date, and it's down to the wire. Finally we learn the hold-up: the driveway is on the neighbour's property. In fact, the vendor knew this, and had had a confrontation with the neighbour about it. This explains the attempt to have the sale before the survey, and helps to explain the 'no legal guarantee' clause. Several solutions are discussed in a conference call, and it is agreed that the neighbour and the vendor will come to an agreement for transferring that property to our vendor just before we do our transaction, but our transaction is postponed from the Wednesday afternoon to the Thursday afternoon. Not a big deal, but we lose a full day of cleaning time.

In the end, we arrange to meet the agent for inspection of the property at 8:30 AM on the Thursday, and he will leave us the keys. We will have all day to unload and start cleaning, and head into town for the 4:00 PM closing.

The plan is to load up the van, truck, and trailer and leave on the Wednesday early evening, sleep at friends' and rise on Thursday refreshed, to go meet the agent. Whether it is stress or food poisoning, I don't know. I am awakened in the wee hours of Wednesday with a migraine and upset stomach. By late afternoon, I am starting to feel better by late afternoon, but cannot yet drive, and we must delay our departure. We decide that at the worst, DS will depart at midnight to meet the agent for the inspection, and I will follow as I can. I need to be there for the closing, but not before.

Ultimately, we leave around midnight and arrive just in time to meet with the agent. But upon touring the house with the agent, we are dismayed. Much furniture and junk has been left behind, and the place is a mess. A tour of the garage reveals that there is even more junk there, including hazardous waste. Here is a photo of the mess:

From Deux Hirondelles

We let the agent know that we want confirmation that the son has moved out and is not coming back, and we want to know what the vendor intends to do with the junk. We let him know that if we must deal with it, we expect compensation. He assures us that the son is gone. We leave the rest to discussions at closing.

We had bought a kit consisting of a bottle of champagne and two glasses, intending to drink it once we are alone, but all thoughts of it are chased from our minds by the mess that faces us.
We clear a corner of the living room and unload our belongings. After all this time, 9 months, it is a little anti-climatic. Once we're done unloading, we decide to head into town for breakfast.

It's our first visit, but our waitress sees the out-of-province plates and asks if we're the new owners of her uncle's property. Ah, the joys of a small town! Many people don't like this aspect of rural living, but it doesn't bother us.

Back at the house, I dive into the bathroom, and DS cleans the kitchen sink and a couple feet of countertop. We set up our bed in the area we've tidied up in the living room. The patio door is our headboard. I try to take a nap, but can't sleep. Soon, it's time to head to the lawyer's.

When we arrive, our lawyer leaves the neighbour and vendor for a few moments to come see us. We explain about the condition of the property and she gets her secretary making calls about the costs of a dumpster and used oil disposal. She comments that things are tense in the room.

As the neighbours leave, we introduce ourselves. They own the sugarbush camp adjoining our property and will only be there for about 3 weeks a year. We head into the room and meet our vendor for the first time. Two of his kids are there with him. We negotiate $500 off the adjustments to compensate for having to get rid of all the junk that's left. The papers are adjusted to show this, and that everything left is ours to do with as we please. This includes a compressor that we pointed out to the agent, nearly new and worth a few hundred dollars, and stacks of sawn boardfeet of cedar, oak, maple and birch found in the attic of the garage, also worth a few hundred dollars to us.

There's a lot of work ahead of us, but it is finally ours! We head back to the property. DS suggests we might not want to sleep there, but I will not hear of it. It's ours, and I want to wake up there tomorrow morning.

Part 3: Clearing conditions

First up: water quality and building inspection

We make arrangements to pick up the sample bottle on our way down Thanksgiving weekend, get the sample, then make the 3-hour round trip to drop it off and come back for the inspection. The son who now occupies the house, and will be evicted when we take possession, is not happy and wants us out of the house ASAP. I don't let the water run 5 minutes before taking my sample, and this will prove to be significant. We also take samples from the lake to make sure it's swimmable.

A BIL who has been working in construction all his life agrees to come look. DS and I are not totally in the dark either, we know what to look for, we know what we're capable of handling ourselves. We just don't have all the intricacies of framing and truss construction catalogued in our brains the way BIL does.

Structurally, the house is sound. The slab is in good condition in the main house. There's a crack in the unheated attached woodshed slab, and some sinking, but that slab is not attached to the main slab. The toilet upstairs doesn't flush well; the ventstack outlet on the roof has been detached by the sliding snow, so the stack vents into the attic, but there's no smell. We know this is odd, but can't figure it out. Likely the stack is blocked by who knows what. There is certainly enough evidence of mice everywhere. Some of the electrical is DIY, and poorly done.

The garage is likewise sound, and includes a mechanic's pit to work on the bulldozer that comes with the house. Yup, a bulldozer, for clearing snow. Also a lawn tractor and push mower.

We see nothing that we can't address ourselves. I completely rewired our current kitchen during renos, changing out breakers in the process and not only passed inspection the first time, but got told I do better work than most contractors on developments! We know how to do pretty much everything that will be needed, except the septic, and having taken measurements, can now start to estimate approximate costs. And with DS and her four brothers all working in construction, there'll be plenty of help if we need it.

The lake water comes back pristine. The well is another story: coliforms are off the chart. It's so bad, the technician in the lab wants to talk to me directly. Given the situation, we conclude that most likely, a good sterilization of the well will suffice. In case it doesn't, I do more research and learn that we can get UV sterilization installed for $1000 max. We decide not to worry about it. Given the situation, the real possibility exists that sonny played with the water to try to dissuade a sale. After all, once the place was listed for sale, he began re-painting the exterior, but in such a slipshod way that the house is currently three different colors, all visible as you drive up. Little does he know it will take more than a patchy paint job and some bacteria to deter us!

Next, government permission

We have to apply, and it is rarely refused, but we can't be sure until we have the response in our hands. The built-in timelines mean it will take 3 to 4 months. A week after we get home following the inspection, the agent is telling us that someone else wants to see the property, a businessman from in town who was prepared to buy it 'sight unseen', oh, and by the way, have we sent in the paperwork to the government yet? We recognize a scare tactic when we hear it, but it gets us thinking: if someone else places an offer, we have to sign off on conditions within 48 hours, and that includes showing proof of financing.

We get the application off to the government, and I visit our current mortgagor to increase the home equity line of credit on our current home, just in case. Without batting an eye, or even doing an appraisal, they increase the limit enough for us to buy the new place cash, without selling our current home. We are flabbergasted to learn what our house is now worth, but still don't grasp this as an option for financing: we figure the monthly payments would be so high that we wouldn't be able to afford them on top of the utilities and taxes of the new place.

We learn another thing: while the agent is telling us about the 'new buyer', he happens to mention that there were other showings before our offer was accepted. This was the real reason for the deadline extension request on our offer back in September. They hoped the showings would lead to an offer, but they didn't. Very likely, this worked in our favour and explains why we got an accepted offer.

So now, we sit and wait to hear back from the government.

Then, financing

The holiday season approaches. While visiting with a niece and nephew, he mentions that they have refinanced their home to pull out the equity and pay off some higher-interest debt. The thought starts to ripen in our minds, and on the way home we decide to look into this option more seriously. I make a few phone calls myself, but the two loan officers I end up speaking with (new folks, because I have decided I will not do business with the guy who has replaced the very knowledgeable loan officer at our current institution) seem to know less about refinancing than I do. I get the idea to call the mortgage broker who handled our purchase of this house. She's excellent, knows her stuff and listens to what we want to do. No problem. In less than a week, we have an offer at a very reasonable rate of interest with payments that end up being $120 more a month than we were already paying.

The plan is that we will sell our current home four years after closing, when I take my year off. We will take the further equity and finance the renovations. When I go back to work, DS will stay behind and I will rent accommodations here and resume the regular visiting pattern we will have adopted in the years leading up to my year off.

By this time, the whole extended family is as excited about this project as we are. The winter holiday season comes and goes. Seeking reassurance, I do more research. I learn that the government posts its decisions online and I go looking at other similar requests. I realize they have no reason to deny our request, and this helps.

Finally!

In mid-January we get the official okay, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. We sign off on conditions, and fax a letter from our mortgage broker assuring we can pay for the property.

The date for the transaction is set for the end of March. The vendor still has to get the survey done before then. A couple weeks later, the agent calls and suggests we do the transaction in March, but wait until the summer to get the survey done. This is unheard of to me, and I tell him I doubt we'll agree, but I will speak to our lawyer. I know the response, but I figure I'll let her deal with it. She does, and he arranges for the survery to be done. Before closing.

Part 2: Getting to the offer

We viewed the property on the last day of our vacation, so now we have a 6-hour drive back to the city. Our thoughts and conversation are a jumbled mix of obstacles and dreams.

In no particular order, these include how much below asking do we think we can get it for; how much might the septic cost, worst case scenario?; we're 6 hours away, what do we do with the property for the 8 years left 'til our planned retirement?; what equipment will we need to maintain such a property?; what renovations need to be done?; does the fireplace stay or go?; how do we pay for it? This is just the pragmatic stuff. We are already talking about updates and renovations, changes to the heating system, etc.

As often happens, time eventually helps us address the hurdles one by one. Back in the city, a few phone calls confirm that $15,000 is the absolute most a septic will cost in that area, and it will likely be much less. The property is zoned agricultural, but the owner has government permission to sever the 35 acres on which the house and lake sit, and it is designated for non-agricultural use. There are no easements or rights-of-way, except for Hydro.

I call the lawyer who handled the purchase of our original 5 acres. She wants to know why we want to go retire out in the middle of nowhere, and if we've thought of the realities of living so far from civilisation? Some would say it's not her place, but she has always looked out for our interests and we chat a bit. She answers several questions, and tells me what she needs to review. I contact the agent and get him to send her the documents. I let him know we are interested in making an offer, but need to answer some questions. Not the least of these is the fact that we will need government permission to buy because of the size, zoning, and the fact that we aren't currently residents of the province.

Being an impatient city person, I'm thinking we need to get all this done quick, so we can make our offer. We head out on our next vacation segment, and I pack all the documentation, as well as a listing of all the ReMax agent offices along the say so we can stop in and sign off the offer without too much delay. By the time we get back after two weeks, we have heard from no one and I'm getting panicky. Finally, I sit myself down and acknowledge that this is rural property and the pace is different.

The calculators are overheating as I crunch numbers, trying to figure out just how soon we can get out of the city, and our jobs, for good. First, we're thinking that if we save every penny, then quit and live off our savings, we could likely make it to my pension date if we quit in 3 1/2 years. Then, my employer sends out a reminder notice.

With our previous contract we had negotiated a sabbatical plan. Our employer has been notorious for denying leaves of absence without pay, so the union has worked something out for us. I could work 4 years at partial salary, then take a year off at the same salary. At first, I'm thinking I will take the year off leading up to my retirement date, but the government has other ideas. For some reason, one must return to work for at least the same amount of time that one was off, or else there are tax implications. Crap.

Ultimately, we decide to do this anyway: I will take the sabbatical, then go back to work for the required year. I'll come back and rent a room, going back on weekends. The biggest issues now are what we will do with the property in the meantime, and how will be pay for it?

All our free time, every discussion, is brainstorming and research focussed on the property. We could rent it out, but it is somewhat remote, and besides, we have friends who have lived horror stories with tenants. We start crunching numbers to see if selling our current residence and thereby releasing the equity in it, then renting is feasible. But rents in our area are so high, it would be tight. And that solution still leaves the property vacant. Might a SIL want to rent? We toss that idea. Hmmm....we could use it as a vacation property, staying there instead of with a SIL as we usually do when we visit. That simmers for a few days, then I realize that I already work from home, and many employees are now working compressed weeks. We'll work compressed weeks, and head up to the property for long weekends every couple weeks. That will keep it semi-occupied, and we get to enjoy it.

Finally, we have the answers that let us move forward. We haven't figured out exactly how we'll arrange financing, but we can afford it, so we place our offer. Our lawyer talks us down $5000 from our original notion, telling us to offer the estimated evaluation. There is a long list of conditions as well. The offer goes out on Wednesday early evening and the response is due Friday at suppertime. The agent calls Friday morning explaining the vendor is in the hospital; not serious, but can he have until Tuesday at suppertime to respond? We agree.

Finally, Tuesday morning we have our response. It's not a counter-offer as we expected; our offer has been accepted, at $30,000 below asking! The proviso is that the property is sold without any legal guarantee. If we close and find a problem afterwards, we have no recourse. We contemplate it and decide that the building inspection will cover us on this front. We are ecstatic, but it's not over yet. There are still many issues to be addressed.

The Backstory, Part 1: Finding the property

My spouse (DS) and I really enjoy renovating. It's one of the things we like to do for fun. Seriously. Yes, we know we're nuts. We had always planned to build our own retirement home, start to finish, and already owned 5 acres where our retirement years will be spent. But as they say, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans...

Rewind to late June, 2006

We are putting the finishing touches on the kitchen reno in our current residence, located in a large city in Ontario. We've been at it since the first week of April. Some friends and family from out-of-town will be visiting at the end of the week, and it's Tuesday. There's not much left to do, just some trimwork. Spouse mentions to me that a good-sized piece of property, with it's very own man-made lake is on the market. Years ago, I had gifted her a subscription to her hometown's local paper, and she had kept it up. Unknown to me, and despite the fact that we already had our land, she was still perusing the real estate ads. "Whatever for?" I asked when the topic eventually turned to this, "Well, we didn't have any water. No stream, etc., so I just sort of kept an eye out."

Call it serendipity, providence, whatever. We're just really glad she kept looking. Although the hometown area hasn't yet seen the advantage of listing prices on real estate ads, it's a ReMax listing, and I know they have adopted this practice. I also know GoogleEarth links to the ads, and we know where the property is, so, I fire up the cucumber* and we investigate. The asking price is unbelievably reasonable to us, since we live in an area where you can't get anything for less than $200G. We figure there has to be something wrong with it, but I pick up the phone and call the agent to ask a few questions.

The owner's health is failing, he is in a nursing home. The son left living at the property cannot keep up the maintenance. It is about 35 acres, mostly wooded. The house was built in '79. The garage/workshop is 30 x 40, the house is a bungalow on a slab, 30 x 50, plus some finished space in the attic. We're headed to the area for vacation in 3 weeks, so we let the agent know we'll arrange a visit if it's still on the market. And we start thinking.

During the weeks between our call and our vacation, we make some enquiries of friends and family in that area. There's going to be a road put in, but we understand it to be planned for the other side of the road into the village, about a kilometre from the back of our property. A planned pig farm is causing some controversy in the town, but it's potential location is several km away. No problems with smuggling at the border crossing near the property, it's a dirt crossing leading to logging roads and sugarbush camps. Hmmmm....so why is it so cheap?

Come vacation time, we're camping out on our land, visiting with friends and family. We happen to mention the property to a nephew who works in the village. He works with the eldest son of the vendor, so he can give us lots of background. Vendor is a paraplegic since a logging incident years ago. He used to live on the property with the youngest son, but had to move to a nursing home. Youngest son was permitted to live there, so long as he paid the bills, but he hasn't. The vendor has had to pay the hydro costs for the past year, so the property is up for sale.

We do a 'drive-by'. Neither the house nor lake can be see from the road, so we turn down the drive and inch forward. As the nose of the truck peeks out of the trees, and we see the property, we fall in love. This is what we saw:


From that moment on, we knew we had to have this place. For the next few days, we discussed our plan: move the house to the 5 acres we already own, and sell that piece at a profit, then build our retirement home. We arranged to visit with the real estate agent. He has had only one other call besides ours, and no visits. It has been on the market two months. We had heard that the owner had tried to sell it before on several occasions, but was asking way too much for it given the area's economy. This is likely working in our favour: because prices aren't listed, everybody assumes he wants too much for it. We're also hearing that he was a businessman used to getting his way.

The morning of the visit arrives. It's a rural area, and hunting is big. There is a stuffed lynx mounted on a log, and a stuffed owl, similarly perched, hanging on the wall beside the pool table. The agent asks if we hunt and says we can do so from our back deck. I tell him if we buy the property, the first thing that will go up will be 'No Hunting' signs. We love the outdoors, but shoot animals only with cameras.

As we tour the house, each of us is thinking "This place is HUGE and the layout is great, we could make this work." On the closet shelf in one of the bedrooms, I notice something dark and furry, and move in for a closer look. There is a head attached. It is a black bear pelt. As we're preparing to leave, I ask the vendor's son about the lynx and owl and he tells us they were killed on the property. "The guy in the back closet, too?" Yup. OK, so maybe BIL will get hunting rights.

We walk around the property without the agent for a bit and take a few pix, sharing our thoughts for the first time. Now we are really hooked. The house needs updating, but none of it is work that we haven't already done at least once ourselves, on our current home. The roof was redone already and is steel. It will not need to be redone in our lifetime. Yes, the septic needs to be redone from A-Z, but we can do all the rest ourselves.

Armed with the listing pages, we stop off to visit a couple SIL on our way back to the city. There is not much talking going on in the car; we are each busy in our thoughts of this idyllic spot we have just seen and absolutely must own. But, there are obstacles to be overcome and issues to be addressed before we can even think to make an offer.

*Several years ago, in responding to a question from my daughter of where to find something, I replied "It's on top of the cucumber." Now, both my daughter and I heard what I said, but I didn't. I was convinced I had said 'computer.' When asked to repeat my response, I repeated 'cucumber.' Three times, in fact. I never realized I was using the wrong word, until they pointed it out to me. So, in our family, the 'puter is now known as the cucumber.