Virtual Front Porch

My wife went to look at a house near Nanaimo, BC. Beautiful , ocean view, two acres, triple garage and lots of room for a second garage up to 2000 sf and in floor heating. Sadly the staircase from the lower floor came up in the middle of the living area. The house was terribly messy. Everything in the fridge was rotting, the kitchen sink was full of moldy dishes and the table had not been cleared after the last meal. The master bedroom was a disgusting mess. The bed was not made, the sheets were stained and there were used condoms laying about. The ensuite toilet was plugged with someone's struggle and musty towels were laying about. The most interesting about the house was the Ferrari in the garage. The house had been rented. The mess could be cleaned up, but the staircase was the deal breaker. For the money the seller was asking, the place should have bee pristine. Anyway, we both have family in the area and this would have been a situation for me.

Hi guys. I am finally back to having a bit of free time to post again. Our move to Texas is just about complete. The only outstanding item is having my K3 shipped from CT to TX. I did finally get my Vermont reg and plates for it though so that is one less issue to deal with.
The pod made it here last weekend so I have been unloading it and putting away all my tools. I have no idea where all this stuff came from. Didn't seem like so much when I was loading the pod. It sucks to not have a basement or a shop in the rental house. I am going to have to get very creative in my use of the garage so that I have a place for all my stuff and the truck too.

Glad you are about done! Hope you can find a reasonable way to get the truck there.

Thanks. I am going to put a request up on Uship and see what sort of response I get. Looks like it will be about $1500 or so. I wish it was cheaper but with the cost of the fuel for the trip I understand.
Hopefully it all goes well without an problems.

SO I get a call on my voice mail yesterday. Guy from AutoZone says the brake springs are in for my "200 Subaru Foster" (and before you ask- English was his first language.)

Now I can understand maybe not being up to speed on all the models of all the manufacturers, but you'd think as an employee of AutoZone that he'd realize if my car really was over 1800 years old they wouldn't carry parts for it!

The house next door is having a leaking, in-ground furnace oil tank situation dealt with. I offered to buy the oil, which is Diesel, 20 years ago when they converted to natural gas. The owner, at that time refused, flat out. When the house sold, I told the new owners that the tank had started to leak and we have Diesel smell in our rain water drain tile and I can see rainbows on the water in the stepwell drain. The new owners refused to deal with the situation. I tried to get some level of government involved, some time ago, but the "New Rules" had not happened at that time.
Now that there is several levels of bureaucracy involved, these clean-ups have become a big industry that supports hazardous waste disposal, field testing and certified testing laboratories, city inspectors and the rapidly increasing number of specialised contractors who smell a buck to be made. The city has a different permit for every stage of the situation, starting with a license to do business in the area, permit to dig and remove the tank, withdrawal of the occupancy permit, with-holding a permit for new construction and so it goes.
So far over half of their back yard has been dug out and hauled away and the digging continues today. This is a chunk of dirt 55 feet by 30 feet and 20 feet deep. A truck load of soil leaves here every hour. The house next door will most likely be torn down because the fuel oil has gone under the foundation and the contractor has been pounding away with a jack-hammer for two days, now and not seeing the end of the mess. This clean-up could cost over $100,000, just for next door and may be nearly there, now.
We have been told that our yard is also contaminated and the situation must be dealt with. Fortunately, our government ruled that the person who owns the leak is responsible 100% which includes all of the costs to anyone affected by their situation. This includes all real-estate fees both selling and buying, moving costs and the list goes on. It is the law. At this point, the owner next door may try to buy our home to save themselves a bunch of money.
I am hopeful that our yard will clean up easily, but I don't believe that will be the case because I am a realist. If the worst case scenario happens, we may be forced to sell our home at fare market value. The house next door is owned by off-shore speculation owners who have contributed to the unbelievably high real-estate prices here. We bought here 35 years ago for $68,500 and the selling prices on this street have been pushed up by the speculators to over $1.5 million. So, why not sell and move? Herein lay the problems, for us. While the homeowner next door is responsible for all of the costs of buying/selling and the move to somewhere else, we like it here and those who have left here by the thousands with their big real-estate bucks have pushed the real-estate prices up at their next stop.
My two adult kids still live at home because they cannot afford to move into any of the over-priced real-estate. Is not possible for a single income to afford a mortgage on a half million dollar condo or a simple home at more than twice that amount. Both Kids work in the area and have high paying jobs. My son has a 15 minute commute and my Daughter has to travel about twice as long.
My wife has suggested that she is not in favour of a move, either, so, life just got more interesting.
The weather here is quite mild and we seldom get snow or frost. I just talked to my friend Mike in Merritt, BC and he is having minus 17 Celsius which is near zero Fahrenheit. Merritt is beautiful and affordable and three and a half hour away. It is a no-go.
I am 68, in about two weeks and accepting change has not been a problem for me, but this is one change that I am really choking up on. Sadly, this forum has chosen to restrict some of the very descriptive words that I could use to really express how it is that I feel, so I will have to leave the good parts up to the readers of the post.
I will take some pictures, later today and post them not later than tomorrow.

Pretty well sucks! What's the ETA for the end of misery?

I did ask that question and was told, "as long as it takes "
I can see the dig migrating into our yard and lasting until January, 2014.
I like Diesel, but the open hole has made our yard smell like a poorly maintained truck stop. I have to admit that the smell is less obvious today.
Happy Holidays.

Hi Guys,
Searching around the Forums tonight and came across the Front Porch. Not much going on here in Eastern Oregon but Winter starting to set in. Snow today and cold. Thought you might enjoy the "partridges in my pear tree", shot from my living room....

So, that really happens EH? If I remember right, that was the first day. What a PITA with all of the livestock. I cant imagine their personal life with all of that racket from animals and drummers going on. Maybe it was her idea because he was ugly or needed a shower.
There is this story of Santa Clause making his rounds in the expensive Yale Town Condominiums in Vancouver. Santa has let himself down the chimney and is on his way to the plastic Canadian Tire tree to deposit some gifts. As he walks through the living room, he passes a beautiful blonde who was sitting on the couch and wearing her house coat. She says, " Hey Santa, cant you stay so we can play?" Santa says, HO, HO,HO, got to go, lots of toys to deliver you know." He leaves the presents under the tree and has to pass the couch and blond on his way out. The blonde pleads with Santa as he walks by and says, "OH, come on Santa, take some time from your busy day so that we can play." Santa takes a second look and replies, HEY, HEY, HEY, might as well stay, I cant get up the chimney now anyway.
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