taking a big step....off a cliff!!

So.....we bought a house.  We can't believe it and are scared out of our wits, but we're really excited.  The financing has gone through, the inspections are all done.  We're talking to a contractor about the changes we need to make.  We're preparing to move.....in January.  ugh. 

It's a little two bedroom bungalow, technically a split level.  It has a basement that is two-thirds finished.  It has a deck.  Again, I say, with gusto...it has a DECK!  The backyard backs up to the Ottawa River, so way out in the trees we have a river view. 

It's a half hour from Ottawa and my work, but our new home of Rockland, Ontario has almost everything we need.  It's a small town and it's quiet, yet it's not so far from big city amenities.

It has a wood vaulted ceiling with exposed beams.  There's an open concept living room and kitchen with a wall of windows that looks out onto the deck and that river view.  The master bedroom is sizeable.  The second bedroom might as well be a large closet....very small.  

All of that sounds great....right??  

There's a reason the current owners didn't show interior pictures in the listing online!  I've posted the only two pictures they listed first.  The last eight are ones I took after we decided to buy the house.  You gotta know...we are seeing this house's potential!  

The walls (except for the master bedroom) are too dark.  The second bedroom is so cluttered with do-it-yourself shelving and Ikea-type cupboards and a desk and a closet that takes up nearly half the room.  You can barely turn around in there.  The ceiling of the utility room is non-existent.  All the plumbing and wiring is just exposed.  The finished part of the basement is painted dark purple.  Everybody just roll your eyes together now.  The living room/kitchen and upstairs hallway is dark green.  With dark wood in the ceiling and the railing of the gallery/upstairs hallway, it's just toooo dark.  The floor in the kitchen is the original plywood and the rest of the place is old carpet.

But we saw what we thought this place could be.

We are going to have the carpet ripped out and laminate flooring installed throughout.  Flooring, that is, that will look like ceramic or porcelain tile.  Don't really need more wood...at all.  We can't afford the real thing, but we know we can get good quality laminate.  We're going to lighten up the paint job with lighter neutral colors.  One wall of the master bedroom might have a slightly darker blue for an accent wall.  Mrs TreeHugger knows I like a dark room for the drama of it and she doesn't mind one wall being a little darker....but only a little!

We still want to try to come down south for a vacation in the fall, but we'll see how finances go.  I can't stay away from the south for too long! 

So, here are the pics.  Take a look.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and is doing well!

The little building to the right is a shed, not a garage.  I'm having to put up a portable, plastic tarp kind of garage...cause I am NOT going to scrape snow and ice off my car!

This is the deck.  It's too cluttered now, but we'll have it much neater.  We do like the idea of the little black fire pit, though. 

This is the view from the deck.  You can barely tell there's water in this pic, but in person, you can definitely see the river.  It's great.  The backyard has a massive downward slope to it, obviously.

This is the kitchen and only door, other than sliding door windows onto the deck.  Nice and open.  Right now, in our townhouse, the kitchen is so small that you practically burn yourself if you turn around!  TreeHugger is soooo excited about this kitchen.  We want to change the counter tops and have the place look much more open, bright and alive.  Right now, there are too many colors, too many textures and no finished floor!

After taking the pic of the kitchen, I just turn around and snap the living room.  See how dark those ceilings are?  We like them just fine.  We just think the walls should be lighter.  And of course, you can see sweet little Mrs TreeHugger there.

Then I took a quarter turn to my left and you have the steps going up to the bedrooms and bathroom level.  That man behind the heater is the home inspector.  The door you see is the master bedroom and to the left, out of sight are the second bedroom and the bathroom.  Just to the left of the inspector, you can see the top of the doorway to the basement.

Half of the master bedroom.  The other half looks the same.  It's the only room of the house that needs basically no work, other than paint

The painfully tiny second bedroom.  With everything, and I do mean every thing, torn out of there, it is still only a 8 x 9 room.  It will have room for not much more than a double bed, but that will still suffice for having company!  We really, really want company.  A visit to us will be like spending time in a vacation cottage, but with hosts that are your friends.

This is the finished part of the basement.  Don't you just want to run far, far away, pulling your hair out and screaming??  Yea, that's what we thought, too.  But....with all that clutter gone and a lighter color on the walls, it might not be half bad.  We think the current owners need an Oprah intervention.  The fake wood grain ceiling is just precious, don't you think???  We won't get that changed right away, but we surely will at some point. 

Last....and least, is the unfinished part of the basement.  This view was to  my back as I took the pic of the finished part.  See all the exposed wires in the ceiling.  We will absolutely have to have an electrician in to clean up this mess.  It wil end up being a very good utility room.  You can't see them but on the floor of the basement were at least 10 to 15 cases of empty beer bottles.  I'm no beer drinker, and Mrs TreeHugger likes the occasional brew...but this was ridiculous!!

So there you have it.  Tell me what you think!

Massaachusetts

These pics loaded in backwards chronological order from the way I loaded them, so take this trip backwards with me!


Carson and April, my neice and her husband. They live in Rhode Island.

Jordan, five years old, bearing precious gifts.

LePewMan, April and family, TreeHugger and Kepler the cat.

Alex, one and a half years old.

Peacefield, home of John and Abigail Adams, in Quincy, MA

A street in the North End, an OLD neighborhood in Boston....old like Paul Revere and Ben Franklin old.

A big impressive bridge in downtown Boston...can't remember the name of it, though.

Olga Ironsides, the amphibious bus we took on the "Duck Tour" of Boston and my precious TreeHugger.

Really good picture, even if I do say so myself, of a very people-friendly rooster at Old Sturbridge Village.

We didn't really plan on a vacation this year. Then we were blessed with a really great tax refund. Bonus! We put away most of it for what we hope will be a down payment on a home. We had a week of vacation from my work in June that we hadn't planned on doing anything with, so when that tax refund came along, we decided to do something with our week of vacation.

TreeHugger had wanted to see Massachusetts for most of her life. I have, in recent years, become very interested in early American history. As some of our friends know, we visited Mt Vernon and Monticello last year, so I really wanted to see the home of John Adams in Massachusetts. So here is our trip......

We toured the Norman Rockwell Museum on a Sunday afternoon in Stockbridge, MA. I had been there in the mid 70's when it was housed in an old home in downtown Stockbridge. In the mid 90's they built a big, beautiful place just outside of town where they house many, many more of his works than they ever could in town. We really enjoyed it.

After the museum, we went into town and ate a mid-day meal at the Red Lion Inn. It's been in business since the 1700's and I had stayed there in the 70's. It's a wonderful old establishment.

Next day, we toured Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. It's an authentic colonial village about an hour from Boston. I had also been there in the 70's. TreeHugger liked the Colonial architecture. I lost patience with a jillion kids there for their end of school field trip. We then drove around the world and back to find a Cracker Barrel that had been a block away. Oh, the joys of wrong directions and a confused GPS thingy.

The next day was our tour of Boston. It was a cloudy, chilly, windy day with rain on and off. The rain didn't bother us much, but the cool temperatures....very disorienting for a southern boy, let me tell you. Our "Duck Tour" of Boston was ok. Our tour guide was very interesting and amusing....but.....things went by too fast. We decided later that we should have taken a different tour that lets you get off and on the bus so you can actually take time to see things.

We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory....total pig out.

Then we took the subway to the North End for a walk in one of the oldest parts of Boston. Another cool part of history was finding the Old North Church. You know...one if by land and two if by sea...Paul Revere's ride and all that?? There was a bust of George Washington in the church that was made very shortly after his death that people who knew him said was a very good likeness. That was very cool.

The last day in the Boston area, we went back into town and toured the New England Aquarium. The 3D movie was good and the aquarium would have been amazing...if not for another jillion kids! They were so loud and boisterous, it just made the whole thing harder to enjoy. We did enjoy the penguins quite a lot. We were amazed by big stingrays and sharks and a giant sea turtle.

That afternoon, we did what I had some to Massachusetts for. We first toured the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. John's birthplace and John Quincy's stand next to each other. John and Abigail, when they married, moved into a house of their own just next door to his parents' home. Both homes still stand on their original foundations, but now in the middle of downtown Quincy, MA. It's hard to get the feel of how old these homes are when they stand in the middle of a modern city, but at least they're preserved.

Then we were taken to Peacefield. It's the home John and Abigail moved into in 1788 when they came home from years in Europe where John served as America's very first ambassador to Great Britain. It's the home they went back to every time they left New York or Philadelphia or Washington (the three cities that served as the US capital during the time he was Vice President, then President). Then it was the home they finally retired to when he wasn't President any more. It's a wonderful home. Their descendants lived there until the early 20th century, when they donated it to be a historic landmark. John Quincy's son built an amazing building just to the side of the house which serves as the presidential library of John Quincy Adams....the very first presidential library.

Then for dinner that evening, we drove down to Providence, RI to have dinner with my neice and her family. We hadn't seen each other in many years, so it was a wonderful reunion. It was also great to meet the whole family. We loved it!

That was our longest day, but so worth it. We didn't know how tired we were, though. We slept until 11:00 the next morning!!

We drove to Vermont that evening and spen the night there. Then we drove home the next day. New Hampshire and Vermont were beautiful. The last leg was my first to spend any time driving in Quebec. I was afraid of all the road signs being in French, but we did fine. Garmin, the GPS lady, did us proud.

We got back and found our furry children very glad to see us. We were very glad to be back home with them, too.

I was just grateful to be able to see some of the places we did. Scenically speaking, it was a very beautiful trip. Historically speaking, you can't get much better than Massachusetts!

great horses and a movie

Back in November, Mrs Tree Hugger and I went to see the Royal Lippizaner (who knows if I spelled that right??? I sure don't!) Stallions perform. The show was very enjoyable. I'm not the greatest at judging light in a dark place, but a few of the many pics I took turned out ok. Here are a few of them for your enjoyment.

There's a little more below the pics about our day today.

The classic picture you always see in their advertisements...that amazing jump. It drew an understandably awed response from the audience.

They were very precise in their movements, very in unison. They're also quite beautiful horses.

This particular horse was some different breed or of some different ancestry. It was the only one with those elaborate braids. It wasn't used in group performance but in special solo stuff. It was more fancily adorned when ridden and the rider was dressed up more like royalty than a soldier. There's a pic of this horse in performance at the top.

The group together was especially enjoyable. Their precision together was amazing.

Just thought this one was cool because I liked the shot. Good color, beautiful animals.

We just got back in this afternoon from seeing the Star Trek movie. Aside from a few details that I, a died in the wool Trekkie, thought weren't right, it was awesome. Any Trekkie who knows their Trek trivia will not particularly like the way they messed with things, but the story itself and the action were great. Mrs Tree Hugger and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If anyone wants to discuss said details with me, email me. I'd love to dive into geekdom with you!

On the way to and from the theatre, we take a route that takes us down a very picturesque parkway. On the way home we saw three ground hogs! I've only ever seen one hanging out on that parkway in any given day. To see three! Well they must be happy that warm temps are finally here....as are the humans that saw them.

We're going back to the Tulip Festival later this week. The buds that we saw last week are in bloom now. Being the picture taking nut that I can be, I can tell you there will be more beautiful tulips coming.

Tulip Festival, as always...beautiful

There are plenty more than these five. This is just a sampling. It was, as usual, beautiful.

I always love the purple ones the best.

Daffodils growing amongst the tulips.

Always gotta include some orange, don'tcha know??? :-) Go Big Orange!

I really like these, what TreeHugger calls, variegated flowers. Very pretty mixed in with the brilliant reds.

Been a long time, eh?? I spent the winter being lazy...what can I say?

Today, Mrs TreeHugger and I walked around the Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioner's Park, here in Ottawa. It's held every year, as some of you who know us are aware. The festival shows some amazing color and tons of opportunities for great pictures.

The festival's roots go back to WW2 when the Dutch royal family took refuge here in Canada and showed their appreciation by sending many, many tulip bulbs. Now the numbers are boasted at over a million per year. That's a very simplistic version of the story, but it's enough.

The pics posted here are just five out of over 30 that I took today. A good half of the tulips were still buds, so we're going back next week for some more amazing color.

We took a two day trip in March to Toronto to have our taxes done and see TreeHugger's daughter. We saw some old friends and enjoyed the time tremendously. I forgot the camera. :-(

Then a few weeks later we took a day trip down to Watertown, NY for some Cracker Barrel and shopping. I always enjoy a trip down to the US. It's delicious eatin' and a chance to pick up goodies I can't get up here. I brought home some biscuits and CB gravy. Yowza!!

I also broke down and finally joined Facebook last month. That's been fun. Even with email available to people, I'm still in touch with folk, via Facebook, that I wasn't in touch with before. Go figure, eh??

Hopefully, I'll be more active with the blog during the warm months. I will be taking more pictures, that's for sure.

I'd love to hear from any of my friends or family....gimme a holler!

playing picture tag

Okey, dokey. I've been "tagged" by my friend, Theresa, to play picture tag. She said to go to My Pictures and chose the fourth pic file and the fourth pic in the file. My fourth file ended up being pics of my beloved Tennessee Lady Vols in their 2008 post season Southeastern Conference tournament. The fourth pic was titled, by me, "CP as usual" meaning Candace Parker, getting fouled and abused, and usually not called. This particular game was the title game against LSU, which, of course, we won. heh heh heh

A very merry Christmas, happy New Year, joyous holidays to all from LePewman and my beloved TreeHugger.

more liberal drivel

If I had access to emoticons on this blog, I'd post a HUGE smiley face.
The hollywood farm girl used the word "hope" as the title of her post election blog. The text had one word - "indeed". That's it. I'm agreeing.

I know there's a hell of a job ahead of him. It will probably be the hardest job any new president has ever had to tackle. I think he's got the cojones to do it, though. I think he's smart enough to surround himself with the most brilliant people. I think I've rarely seen a man so confident, yet so humble. He ran one of the best campaigns for president ever. He's a very, very smart man.

I'm still boasting that huge smiley face.

warning -- liberal election day thoughts

I remember being just stunned that George Bush was given the election in 2000. I remember being embarassed that he wasn't ousted in 2004. Personally, I think he's been one of the worst things to ever happen to my country. He's a cocky, arrogant SOB who doesn't care who he hurts as long as he and his get all they can scrape away before they hop in their get-away car. He can't be gone soon enough. He's left a stench on the office.
I'm hoping like I've rarely hoped for anything in my life that McCain gets sent home packing....whichever home he runs to....and that Sara Palin becomes just a very bad memory.
I'm hoping that progressive people with intelligence and patience will be willing to stand in long lines and vote.
I hope voter intimidation will be snuffed out. I hope the election won't be stolen by unscrupulous and fear mongering Republicans who hired computer hackers to make sure the Nazis stay in power. Yes, I said Nazis.
The people in power right now are Nazis. They don't care who they hurt or how badly they hurt people. They don't even care who they kill or how many. How's the number 4,000 sound??
They just want to keep the power. McCain has become their lackey.
We need a long national shower to clean off this filth from our collective soul.