A House

Well, we are in the process of buying a house. Finally. We've been looking for a very long time. I think we made the official decision to stay in Red Lake back in January. And we've been seriously looking ever since. We'll just say there isn't much available around here. And prices are high. We felt like we either needed to build or buy a fixer-upper to make it affordable. Well, we bought a FIXER-UPPER. And by FIXER-UPPER, I mean we need to gut it and add to it. It has a good, solid skeleton, but it's stinky. So we'll tear out the flooring and tear all the paneling off the walls and so on and so forth. And, sadly, it will take a long time. sigh...

(As you will notice, I am not going into all the grisly and emotional details about the decision to buy this house, nor the larger decision to stay in Red Lake that it represents. I have talked about it in this blog every once in awhile, but the story is too long and it's draining and it's ongoing and I don't feel like writing a book. There is no simple or brief overview. I am not completely on one side or another. I have mixed feelings about staying or going and anyway, we're buying a house now, so the decision is made and I still have mixed feelings, one of which is excitement. The End. Whew!)

And (drumroll, please) I present to you......The House!

The house is on a lovely island. Just a short boat ride across the lake. It sits on a small, private lot surrounded by golden poplars, birch and pine. Wild life abounds on this island. So far I have seen cats and one mouse. (Please don't mention the mouse to the boys. It's a little secret that they would not be impressed with.) Unfortunately, 2 of the cats still reside in the house. The animal-loving executor of the former owner's will feeds them every day. Possession is October 20 and then the 2 cats will be evicted by the new owners.

But anyway, back to the nice part of the new house. It has a beautiful view out the back. No close neighbors, though we can see one family that we really like across the water. And I'm sure all the wildlife common to this area is in the neighborhood. That includes moose, bears, wolves, foxes, and several reports in the area of the less common cougar. Other than the cougar, I feel excited/nervous about these animals. The cougar just plain freaks me out. By the way, we're getting a dog. A big one.

P.S. I made up the part about being on an island and getting to our house by boat. The rest is true.