ten years ago today

We bought the Birdhouse.

Although it was love at first sight for me, the purchase was actually the culminating event of a lot of research. When we first decided to buy a “second” home, we thought of all the things that would make it perfect for us. The list included being close to a Temple and an airport. I wanted it to be old and restorable. A series of internet searches kept bringing me to central Florida and I finally decided to pick out one of the homes and go have a look.  I engaged the listing  agent of an interesting  home and told her what we were looking for.

A few days later, Melanie, who was still home from summer break at BYU, and I  were off on our adventure that was seemingly fruitless by lunchtime. We had seen the agent’s listing and several others that were not old nor restorable. Then, she dropped us off at Goblin Market for lunch and left us with a Homes and Land magazine.

That was  where and when Melanie first saw our home. After lunch and some phone calls, we were on our way. Traveling  down the dirt track, that eventually became the driveway,  I caught sight of the house, and my heart leapt. One thought kept repeating itself over and over in my mind. “Just be half-way decent, half-way decent will do it.”

Doug had plenty to hear about that night when he called in from Buenos Aires, and since he was coming home early, meaning Friday night that week, instead of Saturday, we made plans for a Saturday viewing.

What followed were numerous reports from electricians, fuel tank and gas line examiners, termite inspectors and sewage and water personnel. With all those reports in order, we bought it and began our own projects:

 

stripping

 

 

 

painting

 

pounding

 

scraping

 

 

and staining.

 

  

The project list just goes on and on. But, I love the memories of projects past and the hope of projects future.

 

We have lived here longer than any other place our entire lives.

We love our Birdhouse.

Happy Birdhouse Day!