Considering our Options
The little house to the north of us is going up for sale soon. The last couple of decades, it’s been a rental. All kinds of folks lease it and since it’s about the cheapest rent on the South End, cheaper even than the rent for a converted chicken coop a mile up the road, we get some interesting neighbors. Once we had a glassblower, we’ve had veterinarians, school teachers, a gay couple, a Navy guy, the milkman (twice) and plenty of others. I suppose it keeps life interesting for us … but mostly it’s a steady stream of transient neighbors, some good, some not, some we barely met or saw.
Our shack was originally built by Pearl … and her daughter Ruby built the house now for sale. Ruby was a burlesque dancer in Seattle and Gomorrah, eventually came back to the South End and taught ballroom dancing in Stanwoodopolis in the early 40’s. We have a 5 foot high full size Art Deco photo of Ruby we found in the wall of the shack Pearl built that we keep now in our bedroom. It’s a bit risqué, but hey, history is history.
We were over at the house next door awhile ago today. They’ve got the old wellhouse torn down and we were staring down the 110 foot well hole, hand dug, 3 feet in diameter. All of us thought it had collapsed some 30 years ago … but no, it had 6 or 7 feet of water down there, catching debris and unsuspecting mice and wayward children. I suggested they maybe cap it off a little more securely than the old plywood, the rotted cedar door and the wheelbarrow turned upside down over the hole. But then, who am I, the building inspector?
We’re considering buying the place. A lot of money. But if someone else buys it, they’ll cut the trees and build a McMansion up on the hill for the view. Might be okay, might be it changes our own view. Hard to say. If we buy it, what do we do with the house? Rent it? Use it as another studio? Tear it down?
We’re considering, what you call em, Options. What’s our privacy worth. Do I need to mow more lawn. Do we need more gardens and home improvements? And … what are we gonna do with that well? Right now it’s a big hole in the ground. Could be we end up with a mortgage that’s the same thing….
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