sold!

The house in Houston is no longer ours...technically. We won't get our check until today and we won't hand over the keys until next Monday, but yesterday we signed all the appropriate papers.

Kevin is a small builder and he plans to build a very nice single family home on the property. He plans to save the house if he can by having it moved onto another property. It doesn't seem likely though because all the power lines are on our side of the street and the streets in the neighborhood are narrow. Definitely the roof would have to be removed and it might have to be cut in half as well. He's still looking into it. He can't just restore it and add on to it where it sits because of the premium he paid for the property.

If he can't save the house he is going to try and salvage as much of it as possible instead of just having it demolished, reusing the old shiplap and maybe even the hardwood floors. I've let go of the house emotionally, and now, physically.

Our daughter had a sleepless night anticipating selling her part of the property. She has never lived anywhere else except for about 6 months in a different neighborhood. Other than that, she has lived in the Heights her whole life and all but about two years were spent either in my house or the one next door that they eventually bought from us. It's harder on her but she is looking forward to a better house. I, at least, had lived in many houses and neighborhoods and several years not even in the city before I settled down in the old house.

We'll be going in every day this week, still collecting stuff like the light fixtures out of the old shop and things we thought we would abandon and then changed our minds. Yesterday I pulled up the sandstone slabs that made up a short walkway and we're still trying to find someone to move the tuff shed for us and maybe get a moving company to move the other three large heavy items. My son-in-law has moved the old truck into his driveway for now since they have an extra week to vacate.

The carved glass entry into the shop and the two 5' x 5' windows will be picked up on Wednesday and delivered out here.

I guess I'm going to tackle digging up several of the larger shrubs because, as my son pointed out, I may kill them trying to move them, but if I don't try they are going to be killed anyway.