Water Water Everywhere, And Not A Drop To Drink

One of the downfalls to nice Spring storms in Tennessee is blown off shingles. The turret on the front of the house apparently lost some shingles in the last storm, and water found its way inside.





It has flooded the foyer, and soaked down through the hardwoods settling in the unfinished basement




What we were really fascinated by was the choice of "bucket" that the Fannie Mae cleaning crew thought was acceptable to catch the water continuing to come from the ceiling (at the rate of about a third of a gallon and hour)





Yes, the McDonald's McCafe Cup-----what a fine bucket it is. The Good News is, Fannie Mae should have a contractor out tomorrow to repair the roof, we won't be responsible for that. The bad news is, they won't fix the damage caused by this, so we will have to replace a wall in the foyer, the ceiling, and possibly the floor.

The Big Extras

Joel standing behind the barn and riding arena. They are really big!

2 Creeks Converge

We realized something new today. We do not have one creek that runs through the property. We have 2 creeks that converge behind the barn, and then go straight back through the property. They are both small, but are year round. They will provide a nice water source for the Angoras.

Our Little Gold Mine

We are so happy all of these gates are still remaining. They cost about $200 a piece, so we are calling this a hidden savings account included with the purchase. We will put them to good use.

The "Wood" Anniversary

We just celebrated our 5th anniversary, which according to the anniversary gift chart is the wood anniversary. So, to honor it, we went to Southern Accents in Cullman, Alabama to look at all sorts of great Wooden architectural salvage pieces.

We found ones we LOVED:








And we also found ones that we could actually afford, and also Loved:

Stormy Weather, Keeps Rainin' All The Time

I love how the pond looks when a storm is approaching. It is so dark and foreboding, and the wind makes great ripples across the top. I'll enjoy sitting out on the park bench by it once the yard is cut.

Free At Last

After who knows how many years, the arbor is free from bondage. It will be beautiful once it is set back upright. For now we have it leaned against the stone wall because there are root systems we need to remove.

What is this?

After clearing some brush we came across a lump of metal, pinned to the ground and wrapped heavily with vines. It turns out it is a gorgeous gated metal arbor just waiting to be set free.

“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines.”

Perhaps the person that advised the former owner of this home to paint it Vols Orange, later advised them to plant vines. Heaven knows the vine population is never ending. We would pull what appeared to be a little twig, and it would just keep coming and coming and coming. Some of the Vines have been 50 to 60 feet long. Some climbed up the downspouts all the way up the side of the house and into the rain gutters. Invasive does not begin to describe it. We are just glad that we got to these while they were still dormant. Leaves would have made it so much more complicated.

After about 2 hours of work, we declared victory with two large piles of dreaded, awful vines.

The Hunt Begins

On our way out to pick up some deals and steals. First, a dining room chandelier---was $1850 marked down to $450! Then a new back door, was $3,600; Merchandise return, and Joel sweet talked them down to $400 or better... (Love his negotiation skills).

Ma Ma Ma My Angoras

I think Joel just about fell off the couch when I told him I needed to set aside $10,000 to purchase our goats--for which we will earn roughly $2,000 per year on fleece (if all goes perfect). We can't get sub par quality goats--that would just not be ok, after I spent my last several nights reading a book published in 1905 called "Practical Angora Goats". The title of this book leads me to believe that raising goats is very practical. It's a great plan....and they are cute.

Yes, we have acreage

16 to be exact, as well as a 4 stall horse barn and a 5,000 square foot riding arena (future dog agility training room?). All the land you see in this photo is ours, and it goes way beyond what you can see. It is sprawling, and has amazing views. Gorgeous.

A Storied Past

Now that we have overcome that spectacle, here are the pictures showing the former beauty that this house once was. The only good thing we can say is that the current complete lack of curb appeal worked to our benefit.

Gotta Support The Team

What you are about to see is a real estate Travesty. Please do feel free to avert your eyes, as this may be painful. Some people really don't deserve nice homes. If you are going to take a spectacular English Tudor and paint it UT Orange, you are one of those people who does not deserve a nice home. So...without further adeu, meet The Great Pumpkin:

Mer Honour

We're under contract for a new home--it's actually almost what you could call an estate, and we're very excited. This blog is called Mer Honour since the new home is an English Tudor--it seems to be a good estate name, and is properly English. Mer Honour was a flagship of the British Navy during the reign of Henry VIII (Henry Tudor).