House Adventures

Yesterday was a very long day.

A parishioner was having surgery, so I drove 40 miles out to the hospital by Saint Middle School to "pray him in." His sister and brother-in-law were with him, but when they brought him back to prep him, he wanted me with him rather than the relatives. Don't really know what that was about - I'm sure he'll tell me at a later point in time - but I was glad to be helpful.

Then I drove 98 miles south to Richmond for the house inspections. It was raining, which made the back half of the back yard a bit like the Everglades, but we were able to get done what needed to be done.

The case of characters were my real estate agent, me, plus Chimney Guy (very earnest and sweet and full of recommendations), Slate Roof Guy (very British and sweet and full of recommendations), HVAC/Plumbing Guys (seemed, Lord forgive me, like Dumb and Dumber, but correctly said that they weren't the right guys, that we needed an estimator to come in and price the fix that is necessary for the water hearter), Home Inspection Guy (witty, sardonic, full of very useful information, really detail-oriented). A couple of big problems, a whole bunch of little ones. This is the reality of buying an old home: stuff breaks, stuff hasn't been replaced, stuff has been replaced but with shoddy workmanship. We got the 35 page home inspection report via email last night, and are awaiting the HVAC/plumbing estimate as well as the slate roof guy's estimate. Then we add up all the costs for the fixes and start negotiating.

I still love the house, with all its quirks, and it will be wonderful. We've just got a bit of work ahead of us.

And, no, we still don't know if the hot tub on the back patio works. That's a challenge for another day, and besides, it's too cold in Richmond right now to take it for a test drive anyway.