Little things

 I decided that the first thing I could do to help myself feel like I could make progress was to clean up outside. The overgrown brush and bushes were hiding so much of the front of the house and I knew it was going to need to go.

 A few hours with a pair of pruning cutters and a Ryobi cordless Sawzall allowed the front of the house to finally be seen uninterrupted for the first time in years.




 It's remarkable how just an afternoon clearing out some brush can really open up the space. It's even more remarkable that the realtors of years past never bothered to try to convince whomever was selling to do the same. For a little backstory, the last time the house had been sold prior to my purchase was when the property was listed for $16,500. I'm not sure if that was the actual selling price but I'm sure if someone had just cleaned up the yard, it would've been easier to sell. I also believe that the buyer thought it would be an easy apartment flip - something that they could buy, rent rooms out and just sit back and collect the money. As the local historian would update us via the OHD website though, they were an absentee owner. If my memory is correct, I believe she said the other never actually stepped foot on the property. They had to contact them about mowing the yard, ultimately ending up contracting locally and charging it to the county bills. And eventually after abandoning all duties completely, the lack of tax payments brought it to my world.

 I did also cut down some of the smaller trees around the house, though there are still a couple of larger ones that need attention. But thinning the forest did help a bit. A side effect is that it also exposed more of the house itself and the failing paint and algae and all the dirt and grime from all those years. 

 I rented a 30-yard dumpster and aside from local degenerates throwing their garbage in from time to time, it allowed me to do some general clean-up. To walk in even today you wouldn't know it, but everything has to start somewhere. 

 The next step was to add a couple jack posts down in the cellar area under a couple of the soaked main beams just as extra support. But with so much water still coming into the house - it would literally rain inside if you were there for it - it was definitely a race against time.

 Guess we should do something about that. 

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