glenmar
Posted : 6/12/2006 6:41:00 AM
Oh Joyce, you're bringing back memories of Arroyo Grande and the lovely hot tub on the patio.......that and the fresh produce are the things I miss MOST about CA......
This truely is a great house and it's in a great location. But yes, there was a LOT to do. The owner is the stereotypical guy as far as cleaning...the house didn't look bad on the surface, unless you looked at the Nikki slobber on the walls and windows...but stuff like TWO cans of oven cleaner (which I never even use) to get the oven useable......the carpet by the back garage door was NOT indoor/outdoor and was saturated and in order to get rid of the wet dog smell, we had to get rid of that...then the carpet on the garage stairs and landing...well THAT smell became more noticable after the wet dog carpet left....and his old cat had used the carpeted stairs and carpet as a litter box so we had to rip THAT out...and it had been installed the old fashioned way, with a zillion nails! In fairness to him, his garage doors were ALWAYS open so I doubt that he even noticed the smell. I don't LIKE leaving overheads open, first because of the dogs and second because of what might decide to slither in.
The pool is almost operational now and that will be a very nice plus. It had been drained, but, in the center its dug down to 6 foot deep and every time it rained, it collected water in the center along with crud from the trees and from the air. Cleaning that out was a major job, and filling it took the best part of a week. But we've got the pump and filter going now, some chemicals in there to discourage the skeeters from deciding that it's a major breeding ground.....now we have to figure out how to set up the solar heater and a sand pump.
I do think a fence will work wonders for MY peace of mind more than anything else. The old school house faces the main road and it's a shallow but wide lot. Our little "road" is basically a glorified driveway. If I run fencing along the property line on that side, I'll feel more secure when the dogs are out with us. Because getting out hasn't been a real regular thing, remember, they have a securely fenced yard of their own, they do get a bit wild when we first let them out, otherwise I wouldn't be using the darned lines. I can mix those with perfect recall with those with not quite perfect recall and feel pretty secure about the OTHER bounderies, but the road makes me nervous. So just a line of fence is all I really need to do to make me feel more secure for them.
And yes, Shadow is doing somewhat better. He drove us both nuts yesterday while we were working outside, but getting him...and all of them...more exercise is starting to pay off. That and a new spray bottle......I've had them all inside quite early the last two nites, and Saturday evening I was alone....and they settled much more quickly.
I live in the country surrounded by deep woods.....of course there are gonna be snakes. I had just HOPED that I wouldn't have to run into any of them! At least the one I met was just a baby. And I sincerely hope if he lives to grow up he remembers that I'm a NICE lady who did NOT turn him into confetti!