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Welcome to the Nut House
We had an unexpected surprise this morning. While I was at work (yay… dripping sarcasm there) I got a text from the First Reader. “They brought us the keys.” At which point it’s a good thing I was alone in the lab, because there was definitely a Squee! out loud. We were not supposed to get the keys until Thursday, so this was perfect timing. We could go over to the house, christen it, measure stuff, make lists, and not have to rush through it or do it after dark.
As it turned out, we did visit the house… twice. Once with the kids, which was a swirling pool of chaos, and again just the two of us and a coffeepot, for a proper christening.
We’ve been here a few times, of course. We saw it and offered for it, we came back for the inspection. We came in for the two-day walkthrough (which was useless, really. They removed several things they weren’t supposed to while moving out that couple of days after the closing. Eh. Nothing major, just dirty pool to dig up all the landscaping and take most of it away). But this was the first time it was empty, and it was ours, and we could really see the place without rushing or feeling intrusive. It makes a big difference!
The big yard, where I plan a backyard orchard, and a garden, and some lawn for the First Reader (typical male, has to have something to mow!) is going to be a palette for my long-suppressed landscape designing to see full play.
Inside, we finally had the ability to see a clean slate and talk about what is going where. We’ll make the kitchen an eat-in kitchen, which is what both of us are accustomed to. The open concept dining room will become the office/library, and I’ll cover some of that pretty paneling with bookcases!
The nice thing about this house is that it needs very little work from us. There’s one project that must be done before we reside, and some smaller things that need to be done soonish. The project is converting a doorway between the Little Man’s bedroom and ours into a closet – right now there is no door there, and he doesn’t have a closet. So that will work out nicely to fill both needs.
The first things to be moved into the house, appropriately enough, were some boxes of books I’d had in the back of my car for a while (one was the boxy my grandmother sent from Oregon!) and the coffeepot with accouterments. We also hauled over four chairs, all outside chairs, so we could try out the porch and back deck to see how they were for sitting.
There’s a lot of work to do with moving, but we’ll do it a bit at a time. We’re in no rush. We have the rental to the end of May, and there’s a lot going on, so we’ll pick and peck at it until we’re done. I’ll be posting photos, of course!
And a video walk-through of the house. I’m afraid that I’m not the best camera, er, woman.
Comments
41 responses to “Welcome to the Nut House”
Congrats! And oooo, cherry tree!!
Yes! Flanked by two semi-dwarf apple trees. I’ll be planting more, but it’s lovely they are already started.
Oooh, what kind of apple trees?
One is a Honeycrisp. The other, she couldn’t remember so it’ll be a surprise.
Oooooh, I heard honeycrisp is delicious, so I hope you forgive me a bit of envy! The cherry tree will also bear edible fruit, I hope?
I’ve been pondering the possibility of potted dwarf fruit trees; but that may have to wait until a later stage in life. (My inability to acclimate to constantly shifting Australian weather in the areas we’ve been to has prevented even pot gardening…)
I’m not familiar with the growing zones at all down there, sadly. I don’t know on the cherry, we’ll have to find out!
They have those neat grafted trees here; so multi-apple trees, multi-stone fruit, multi-citrus, multi-cherry types. Which make me really excited.
https://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/collections/apples
I’ve always thought those looked really neat.
Yeah, me too. And good for small spaces…
My grandfather had one of the earliest “all in one-der” cherry trees– two types of baking cherries, three kinds of eating. Norther California, so it never got more than a story tall, very neat.
Fave apple: SweeTango, which is a cross between a Honeycrisp and an unknown parent, but it sure tastes like a Prairie Spy, except less tart (and has wild-type seeds like a Spy)..
LOVE the wood paneling. Place looks in good shape (did it start life as a modular?), and the big lot is sure nice to have. Congrats on the find. Exile the spare offspring to the garage; I know I’d have jumped at that. 🙂
Landscaping nowadays is sometimes rented by the realtor as a sales tactic!
Freezers are expensive — that’s probably worth pursuing, a good one might be $500-$800 worth.
You know sweet cherries need a sour cherry as a pollinator?
Apricots, nectarines, and some peaches grow true from a seed (nectarines and cherries from seed can grow into a *huge* tree if not pruned). Filberts start producing in only a couple years. Some citrus are hardy enough to stand some winter, tho handle it much better if grown from seed than if grafted (we’ve had lemons-from-seed survive Montana winters!) There are folks experimenting with hardy varieties. Worth looking at.
Apples from seed are an Adventure. But here’s a guy who hunts down and maintains heritage varieties:
https://applesearch.org/
The ‘Welcome to the Nut House’ sign was from me (and Pippa — she was with me at the mechanic shop in Klamath Falls when I picked it out — they have a whole wall full of fun and cool signs). But Grandma would have thought of it if she’d seen it, I’m sure!
Ah! Grandma had sent me a photo of it, so I’d thought it was from her. And it is perfect.
Hmmm. I think I’d rather move in one fell swoop, and get it over with. But, there is no disputing taste, So I am told…. But I’d rather take a A55whipping than move, so there is that.
Right now, with me working 7 days a week, that’s not practical. So we’ll do it in nibbles.
Have to admit that I would rather get my half fire over with quickly. Not that it helps all that much, in my experience – we last moved just about twenty years ago, and I think we unpacked the last box about ten or eleven years after that. I know it was just barely in time to clean out my mom’s house. There are still a couple of those sitting out in the garage/storage.
Very cool indeed. Congratulations!
Congratulations Cedar. Happy house!
its really a lovely house
Perhaps a sign in Edwardian script, or Elvish saying “Welcome To The Nut House.”
And no house warming would be complete without a family huddle and a murmured, “Our precious.”
We no longer have fruit trees here in Philly, instead we turned our efforts to everbearing raspberries, day neutral strawberries, and blueberries.
Congratulations on your home.
What a lovely home! Congratulations! And thanks for the walk-through. I love your wood paneling and your backyard and your big kitchen. I’m totally jealous of your fruit trees. I hope you all spend many happy years there. =o)
Right now, it’s a five year plan. But who knows what the future holds? Thank you! Wish you were close enough to invite over for coffee and pie.
I don’t recall the exact details, but when my Maternal Grandfather sold his house and moved in with his daughter (my mom), about 6 months later the hot water heater on his former house stopped working. They buyers came after him to replace it as part of the sale. My dad said it was long enough after the purchase that any warranties about function should have been cleared, but my Grandfather went ahead and bought the a new one rather than have the hassle.
So that comment about the refrigerator they should have left, people have claimed on issues like that, and it probably depends which of the two of you is more willing to foment conflict over it.
We have a one year home warranty on the house, paid for by the seller, which is cool.
I’m trying to decide what to do, if anything, about it. I let my realtor know, and he was going to talk to the other realtor, but I haven’t heard anything back yet. I’m sort of irritated about the landscaping – it was obviously put it for curb appeal as they were prepping to sell, and then they yanked the plants as they were moving, after we’d done the walkthrough. Just an underhanded piece of deception over plants that weren’t worth much, as they were planted last year. I’d have been replacing/moving them anyway. It was more the spirit of it.
I think I’d fin other hills to die on. Would you have bought the house w/o the plants? Five years from now, will they even matter?
The plants? I haven’t even mentioned officially. The freezer? Was specified in the contract and it is an obligation. Still, I probably won’t pursue it, it’s only about $600 worth of trouble.
Again, five years from now, who cares? One of the best pieces of advice, given to me by my dear departed father, was the Five Year Rule. When asked about his tranquil, laid-back disposition, he replied that anything you weren’t even going to remember in five years wasn’t worth getting upset about. Put people cutting you off in traffic in perspective.
Yup. Eh. I have more important stuff to worry about, like where I’m putting my bootiful new desk!
Hope it’s big enough to support both your writing and your art. Still pestering you about the coffee table art book.
Pester away. I’m not rushing – I will do it right or not at all!
The desk is a tall one, with the ability to tilt part of the top and use it as a drafting table.
$600 worth of trouble, and specifically violating the contract, are really nasty.
I know that I’ve heard of people deliberately violating contracts so that when you find out about the much worse thing they also violated, they can show it isn’t enforced.
Yeah. I’ve talked to my realtor. We’ll see what he says about it.
Good, he’ll have a better idea of what the local pitfalls are– I know in Washington State, at least around Seattle, failing to enforce *even one* aspect means you’re SOL for the rest.
Congratulations. It looks like a beautiful house that will soon become a home. 🙂
I see what looks like an open lot to the side, I hope it can stay open and “wild” – give the critters space too.
The open lot is part of the neighbor’s place (the ones with the ladder… ) and will likely stay like that as long as they live there.
Congratulations to you, the First Reader, and your entire family. BTW, is that a Utah Rocks t-shirt you’re wearing in the photo?
No, it’s a red panda napping 🙂 Tee Turtle grab bag shirt, it’s cute!
A grab bag of t-shirts – how interesting.
Three shirts in your selected size for about $24. I tend to like all teeturtle designs, so I’ve done it a couple of times – my daughters wear the same size I do, so it works nicely!
I’m so excited for you 🙂 There is just something special about a place that’s your own.