Waiting

We are waiting to hear about our counter offer to the seller's counter offer.  Good old negotiating.  It is funny.  When we first saw the place online we put it in the "no" pile because we looked at it an online satelite picture.  The guy across the road has a lot of equipment in his yard that looks like a junkyard from the air.  When we first went to look at it we looked for the equipment.  You can't really see it from the road.  Oh, you can tell there is a farm and the tractors etc. that go along with that, but you can't see everything that is back there because of trees, sheds, house, and garage.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I had thought from the aerial shot that the place was doomed. 

We were also scared by the online listing because they didn't post any pictures of the interior of the house.  Usually that is a very bad sign.  Walking around the property we liked the property but were still a little scared about the house.  We didn't have a realtor with us the first go around so we couldn't get in the house.  We went back a couple days later with a realtor and got inside.  Wow!  Beautiful hardwood floors, cool old farmhouse sink with drainboards on either side, chrome and laminate counters, and metal cabinets straight out of the 50s.  Then we went in the bathroom.  Clawfoot tub!!  In the master bedroom, cedar lined large closet!  In the basement, root cellar pantry!  Had they put pictures up of the interior I don't think the property would still be on the market. 

Everything does need cleaned.  I'm dying to take some mineral oil to the wood floors and see what is under the dirt.  I want to replace the 6 tiles in the kitchen and the 2-3 tiles in the bathroom.  There are so many cool buildings and features about the place.  Even the basement someone has started dividing it into some rooms that we can finish and add two rooms to the house.

One bathroom is a little inconvenient but not a deal breaker by any means.  Especially since Bear keeps asking why we have 2 bathrooms here at the rental.  He giggles and tells me it is silly to have two.  Maybe he's right.  Especially if we clean out the outhouse.  Growing up in a one bathroom house that had an outhouse for years I know they sure can come in handy.

I'm trying to decide if I want both poultry houses as actual poultry houses.  We might have to see about moving one and making it a well house.  We have two wells there and neither has a well house.  I can't imagine that is really a good idea for winters.  Plus the well for the yard and fields is a bit of a pit and I don't want little ones exploring where there are probably critters hanging out.  It looks like a perfect spot for spiders and wasps.  It has been covered but needs new boards.  There are plenty of boards around the place to do that with, but it just needs done.

At least the waiting is giving us time to think about what we want/need to do and get some prices.  Also, we've been watching the paper.  It looks like we should be able to find most of what we want for a lot less money either in the classifieds or at an auction.  Most of the things that we want to do we can wait until next summer when Tom is on summer vacation.  A couple of windows can't wait although we are seeing lots of different options for taking care of them.  We have a couple of home improvement stores here in town and there are all sorts of antique and second hand stores around.  Way better selection then Missoula.  A little surprising since this area is much smaller.

I suppose I'd better get another cup of coffee and get going with my day.  Trying to get into a routine hasn't been the easiest here.  At least it is cooling off.  That gives me more motivation.  I should finish making the crackers I started the other day.  I got distracted making yogurt.  It turned out pretty good too.  Okay, I'm off to get coffee.