Posted 5:35 PM by JS

at last! I have found and agreed terms with a plumber who can do the hws, gas, roof etc by around the end of November. fortunately I am busy with other things right now and am feeling fairly patient about this project.

the next thing was grass slashing, as that 1/2 an acre is starting to get overgrown, which would be a fire risk in summer, not to mention making any gardening activities much harder. couldn't find one through the phone book, so I asked the plumber. the person he put me onto was, of course, a wealth of knowledge about who used to live there. apparently there was a family with six or eight children there! they kept pigs, had a dairy (I think that might have been on the surrounding land, not on my 1/2 acre), and managed somehow.

even better, he gave me some names and towns for the kids/grandkids to add to my list of sources for the history project. it seems that in communities like this, you only have to scratch the surface and history (when does it stop being gossip and become history?) comes spilling out. I told him a bit about my plans for the place too, knowing perfectly well that that will be spread in turn around anyone who lives in that area. that's fine, even desirable.

oh, and he's going to slash the grass, too.

:)