July 26, 2005: Back from Africa

After two weeks in Africa and nearly 24 hours of return travel (stories for another place), 80 Marion St is once again occupied. The tomatoes have gone wild, the grass is tall, and the shrubs are nearly completely blocking the path into the back of the house! How did all this happen in just over two weeks? Imagine if Mark hadn't been looking after the place for most of our trip!

July 7, 2005: Visit from the Electrician

We finally got around to calling the electrician for a return visit. Upon his arrival in the AM, Gareth showed him the various things to do and headed to work. And then...nothing! No email, no call, no nothing. We weren't sure whether he had taken our stuff to head for the hills, finished the job, or was dead in our house having electrocuted himself in the process of doing work for us.

It wasn't until Sarah arrived home at 5:30 that we were finally able to see what had been done. The big change is the dining room light. After hanging for nearly a year with no juice, it now actually works!! Also, a number of outlets were upgraded to grounded outlets and the kitchen and bathroom got GFI outlets. No more fear of getting zapped while using the blow drier. Also, the nice guy fixed up a number of outlets in the basement and changed out a few black switches for white ones. I guess he didn't approve of our black switch/white plate scheme.

We still have no idea how much this is going to set us back since they were quicker to schedule the work than send us a quote. If only that would happen with the front door awning and gutters!

January 23, 2005: The snowstorm!

This was the biggest snowstorm since we moved to Medford - and we'd already had some pretty impressive weather events in our first two winters at 35 Marion St. In fact, everyone is claiming that this was the biggest storm in nearly 20 years! Like anything else to do with the weather, the forecasters never quite get it right in advance, so no-one told us we'd be digging out from close to three feet of snow (the previous year, they predicted a massive storm that dropped not a flake in our garden). Like the best snowstorms, once the front passed, the sun came out, and we were able to go for a walk in the park - and jump into the biggest of the drifts. Then it was back home to dig out, and create little walkways all around the house!

June 29, 2004: The Mess

During the walk through the night before the closing, the house was a mess! Everything was dirty and the basement was full of junk - a junker washing machine, two stoves, an old cabinet TV, a busted toilet, amount other things. Naively, we mentioned to our realtor that the sellers must not be finished moving out. He laughed and told us that everything in the house was going to be ours.

Not pleased, we discussed our options and had our realtor ask the seller for money back at the closing to dispose of all of the junk we were about the acquire. Although the check wasn't available at the closing, we eventually got $400 for our disposal needs.