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New Home ~ Moving soon by vantid

It's the beginning of spring. It's a new month. And the beginning of a new life for Xyks and I. This time of year couldn't be a more fitting symbol of our lives. Winter was difficult on many of us, and on many animals and plants, too. I love snow and ice and cold days, but for once, I couldn't wait for it to be done and over. There is so much work for us to do outside! Almost everyday we checked the forecast for the upcoming weekend, biting our lips with worry. Will it be snow or shine? Daily highs and lows fluctuate wildly with each passing day.

On clear days we drive up to our canyon land and work on tearing down the flood house (if you don't know that story, my past journals). The house is full of salvageable material: copper pipes and wires, a steel roof, thick wood boards over the roof and magnificent beams/rafters beneath. We work all day pulling nails and hauling materials. We've busted apart moldering dry wall and cut pipes. Friends have come and gotten down and dirty with refreshing manual labor. It feels good even as our hands cramp into claws and our bodies ache with stiff, angry muscles. I sit on my butt and draw all day, and Xyks is a programmer, so our nerdly muscles are not fit for this kind of work!

But we do it anyway and we're getting stronger.

Throughout all this, we've met our neighbors down canyon one by one. Before we even closed on the land, we met the couple who owned a small cabin across the street from the flood house during our first visit after the September flood. Their cabin survived the 1000 year event with a little wetness in the basement, and a clipped eave when an old forest cabin came spinning down a gorge in a massive land slide. The forest cabin came to rest 20 feet from their door.

At this first meeting, we broached the subject of possibly renting or even buying the cabin, as they were renting it for the past two years before the flood. They seemed open to the idea, and we exchanged contact information. We offered to help them in any way we could.

Months went by and we closed on the land and became friends with the cabin's owners. We went on hikes around the land together, talked dogs and gardening and the canyon's extensive history. We went under contract to buy their cabin and after 45 days of house, well, and radon inspections, appraisals, and minor repairs, we closed yesterday.

We used the same real estate agent for this transaction as we did for the land. She was excellent at her job during the strife and stress of acquiring the flood land. She said ours was her largest file and most complicated deal ever. Our final price for the land was less than 20% our original offer, and we knew she'd done all this hard work for far less of a commission. So we were happy to have her on board for the cabin's transaction, and it went as smooth as butter because we are friends with the sellers. After signing the papers, she said she'd never had buyers and sellers on such good terms.

Xyks and I finally have a "new" home! We currently live in his condo, which is very nice with all his remodeling and updates, but it's small and, well, it' s a condo with people on all sides. The cabin was original built in the 1880's with hand hewn logs. Over the decades it was been modernized and updated so much that the home inspector found it to be in better shape than most modern houses. It has a spiral staircase up to the second floor, and large stone fireplace and mantle, windows and skylights everywhere, and has survived at least three floods and a fire with hardly a scratch. The large front window has a grand view of the other side of the canyon and you can hear the creek when the side windows are open.

Move in date is somewhere at the end of April/beginning of May. Of course we are still in the process of trying to fix up the flood land, so being on site, instead of half an hour away, is monumental for Getting Things Done.

Oh and planting things to eat. OH LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY SEED ORDER. I have that gotta catch 'em all sentiment when it comes to buying seeds. :E

Here some photos, in no particular order!
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/roof.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/abovehouse.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/hiketrees.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/suchwork.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/toworkwith.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/ey.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/fistbump.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/molding.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/piles.jpg
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1629405/tanglewood.jpg

New Home ~ Moving soon

vantid

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  • Link

    Very cool, congrats!

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    That does look like some very extensive work- super satisfying, though! How exciting. The land is just gorgeous, too.

  • Link

    That's so exciting! Best of wishes to you both! Unbelievable little slice of heaven in the mountains you all have got now.


    Why you no take pictures of the 1880s cabin :P

    • Link

      Haha I know, all the photos I have are super snowy or not a very good view, but here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e09nekvbwjq55el/YcWpAykc13 I took these for an insurance quote so they are just blah photos. And thank you!

      • Link

        Well I expected it to be in pretty decent shape from your description, but wow, if you hadn't stated the age of the original structure, there's no way I would have known. I love it, definitely has a lot of character, even with the modernization. I might just be more jealous now though haha. Thanks for pulling those!

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          Sure! Thanks for looking. We actually have photos of the cabin from ye olden days that I will scan soon.

  • Link

    The views look amazing.

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    I always wanted to fistbump a backhoe, but the opportunity has not yet arisen. You are my hero.