Moving Toward Something

Let's See Now...Where Was I?

Well hello there!  When I last wrote, it was in early May and I was expressing happiness that Spring was here.  Now it's late August.  It's been a busy summer.  Here's a basic rundown on what's happened since late May.

I bought a house.  We moved into it in June.  House shopping was fun.  There were some crazy things on the market.

• A teensy house in a lovely historic neighborhood, but the inside of the house looked like a suburban townhouse development had hit it--all beige carpet, shiny fake brass lights, beige walls.  Overpriced, to boot.
• A National Folk style house in a highly desirable neighborhood that was in terrible need of repair.  It was fun to fantasize about fixing this one up, but it would have been an enormous pain in the rear.
• A couple of houses where people had bought them in order to fix them up a bit and flip them, but then run out of money.  These were sad because the things the owners had chosen to change were the only things about the house that had any character.
• What was once a gorgeous arts and crafts bungalow, but was now home not only to a dude and his dog, but probably some raccoons and various birds and rodents.  It smelled of smoke, had fake brick siding, and a leaky skylight.  Extra bonus was the large painting in the dining room of two well endowed gentlemen making love.  While I appreciate the human form and depictions of love, I was not prepared for HELLO PENIS.  I had to hold in about ten penis jokes so as not to shock the real estate agent.
• A beautiful, well maintained old house in a nice neighborhood...except it had a nasty bulge in the kitchen ceiling and no off-street parking.  The built-in bar cabinet in the living room almost made me forgive this.  Almost.
• Another house with lovely old built-ins and woodwork that was unfortunately situated right next to train tracks.  If I had to live next to train tracks, these would be the ones I'd want to live next to.  There's a strip of beautiful community garden separating the tracks from the street.  But I don't have to live next to train tracks, so I'm not gonna.

So I wound up buying a Cape Cod style house built in 1927 in a pleasant neighborhood.  It is structurally sound and doesn't need any emergency repairs.  It has some cosmetic issues that I hope to correct over the years; while the house was lovingly maintained, at some point in its history its former owners clearly wished they had a 50s ranch style house and did some unfortunate remodeling.

There's all this stuff I want to get done to the house, but I have to pace myself.  I'm trying to focus on getting all the unsexy stuff done first.  Replacing the water heater, getting a fir tree removed (it had been planted five feet from a birch, and the two were preparing to fight to the death), new insulation, blah blah blah. 

I'll post here with before and after pictures when we get to the sexy stuff!

Spring!

See here, in the picture!  There is no snow!  There is green!  There are leaves budding on the trees!  Spring is here!  This means that in about three weeks, it will be summer--muggy and hot.

I've been learning about dogs.  N's dog is the first I have ever had prolonged contact with.  Here is what I have learned so far, although I am positive there are more lessons to come:

• They do not purr. Do not be alarmed; it doesn't mean the dog is never happy.
• They desperately want whatever it is that you're eating, even if it's a salad, something spicy, or something poisonous (like onions or chocolate).  If they find it not to their liking later, they'll generously throw it back up for you, no questions asked.  They believe this is an excellent arrangement and cannot understand why it is not adopted in more households.
• That ghostly sound with intermittent thumping coming from the living room is NOT a poltergeist.  It is the dog harmonizing with a passing firetruck and whapping his tail against the sofa.
• Dogs will alert you to any nearby wildlife.  I have now seen deer in the area, as well as a gray fox with at least two kits.  Also included under "wildlife" are the lady who walks her mini collie down the street every day, and anyone using an outdoor grill in a 1/2 mile radius.

In other news, there have been a lot of family visits.  For Easter, N and I got together at my cousins' farm place near Spring Green.  I'd never been out there before, so we got a walking tour of the property.

"Oh look," said my cousin Ian, "A dead deer!"

"Oh.  Huh.  Yep!" said his grandfather.

"I'm sorry, but I have to take a picture of this," said I. 

They were amused.  Then we went and had a lovely Easter meal.  Here is the picture (of the deer, not of the meal).

Most recently, my parents came to Madison to visit.  It was a great time for it; the flowering trees had just begun to bloom and the weather was nice.  Dad got to see the farmers' market at the capitol (which is back for the season, yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!), Mom finally got to meet N, and we toured around for the bulk of the weekend. We even paid a visit to New Glarus.  It's nice that they've been here now, because now when I talk about Madison they'll have an idea of what I'm gabbling about.  They departed on Tuesday.

I'm in the process of buying a house, but I don't want to jinx it by writing about it here until the deal is done and final.  I'm very excited, though.  Tired of renting!  I was spoiled by owning my own home in MN for a decade.

Homeowners Associations Gone Wild

I think I'm selling my house at the right time.  Not in light of the housing market, but in light of this big packet of new and "reinforced" rules that the homeowners' association my townhouse is a part of just sent me.

Some of their new rules:

No owner or occupant shall keep more than two dogs, or two cats, or one dog and one cat on the property at any time.  No dog shall exceed 25 pounds at maturity...Allowable pets are dogs, domestic cats, or small birds (e.g., parakeet or canary).

Um, whut?  So if little Timmy wants to have a pet gerbil and he lives in this set of townhouses, he's S.O.L.?  No goldfish?  You can only have two dogs/two cats (so glad they specified "domestic" there)/one dog and one cat, but you can have a metric buttload of birds?  I bet the HOA people will start pointing and squealing and saying they saw you sign your name in the Devil's book if you even mention the word "ferret."

Guest parking marked at the end of each driveway is strictly for guests.  Owners that have guest [sic] for more than a 24 hour period (but not more than 7 days) shall register that guest's license plate number and vehicle description with [the HOA management company].  Owners that park in guest parking may be towed at owner's expense with no notice.

I can't have an overnight guest park in guest parking without letting my HOA know?  That kind of defeats the purpose of moving out of Mom and Dad's figurative basement and into a home of one's own.  And what happens if I have a guest stay for more than seven days?  The document doesn't specify.  How thorough.

No clothes, sheets, blankets, laundry, or any other kind or [sic] articles shall be hung out of a townhouse or similarly exposed to view.

That is to say, even if you want to dry your laundry in an eco-friendly manner, you can't even do it from your back porch.  You can't even do it inside your house, if someone can see it through a window.

I will be so pleased to sell my house to someone who is comfortable with these rules and the mindset behind them.  The rules at my apartment are much more lax, and the place looks fine.