Passing Inspection!

Had another lightning fast trip south. Drove down yesterday and back today. Six hours and 347 miles each way. My car is certainly getting exercised. It's now up to 18,000 miles. Not bad for a vehicle that's almost 4 years old. For those of you still driving SUVs and trucks, I get 30-32 mpg on the highway and one-way takes about 7/8 of a tank of fuel. Try not to hate me for being efficient. :o)

Only took one wrong turn on the way back this time. We won't talk about how I couldn't find the bank earlier today, but I can safely say I won't ever be unable to find it again. Nor am I likely to not take a map of Jackson with me on the next trip. (Many thanks to Mitch for navigating for me via Google Earth.)


The not-so-itsy, bitsy spider web...
First, I have to show you what I found waiting for me on my front porch this evening when I got home. I 'm not quite sure what possessed the spider to choose my porch as the perfect place to live, but I can't say that I disagree completely. The only trouble is that the letter carrier won't like it much. I'm pretty certain it's a federal offense to trap postal workers. I know I don't have a trapping permit that covers that sort of thing. I have since removed the web. Felt kinda bad doing that given that the spider was just finishing up its handiwork when I took the pictures. It's gotta suck to have to start over again. Pretty yellow spider. Three foot wide web. Very nice indeed.



Days of Watermelons and Roses...

Isn't that beautiful? I don't think I've ever seen a watermelon carved into a bouquet of roses. I think that's a guava chrysanthemum next to it. (At least I think that's a guava. I'm pretty sure it's not a mango.) Carl Jones is the artist's name. He was working on the watermelon at the corner table at Starbuck's this morning. Carl runs Premier Place Catering. I may have to send him e-mail and ask him where he learned how to do this stuff. I bet he makes killer jack-o-lanterns. I bet I could ask him questions about starting up Desserted Islands Bakery too since his card indicates he's available for business consulting. Woo woo! :o)

The Inspection:
The house has no major structural issues. Or any other major issues. Several things need to be fixed pretty quickly. The first is that the dryer vent tube has no exterior cover/louvers, etc. to keep out the mice, snakes, lizards, faeries that live in the yard. Furthermore, where the dryer vent tube comes out of the foundation wall, there is no caulking/seal around the tube, so critters can get in around the vent tube and into the space under the slab (and probably into the walls). To complicate this even further, the interior opening where the dryer tube comes into the laundry room was never boxed in. You can see the back of the drywall on the opposite side of the opening and the studs in the wall. That should have been closed off when the house was built. Otherwise critters can have free rein of the house. Which they have done. Apparently there is evidence of a serious mouse infestation in the attic, based upon the poo found around the furnace and on the insulation. I saw lots of mouse poo around the waterheater (lovely place to keep warm in the winter, I'm sure). The plumbing vent pipes have worn/deteriorating rubber flashing boots on the roof. These will need to be caulked or replaced. I vote for the latter. Probably something I could do myself, but I may have a plumber come do it, so I know it's done right (and can watch being done too). Finally, the laminate floor in the kitchen has water damage in the area that would go under the fridge. The inspector recommends having the seller replace that bit of flooring. It should be easy to do and cheap. Sure, it's under the fridge and out of sight, but it's still messed up and needs to be replaced, preferably before another fridge goes in there.

On the other hand, we noticed today that the living room has been painted two slightly different shades of green. The upper parts of the wall aren't the same shade as the lower parts and other random patched up parts. So maybe I don't want them fixing the floor cuz there's no telling what sort of work I'll get.

But everything else checked out ok, so that's good (and a lot less to worry about). The house needs some minor maintenance work (mostly cleaning and touch-up stuff). Things that I can handle on weekends, like re-painting worn trim, treating the deck, cutting back overgrown shrubs and re-hanging the fence gates. I will be starting a collection of homeowner tools. Like a ladder. Given that there is only a single wall receptacle in the garage, I'm considering having another circuit installed and adding 2-3 receptacles on the other walls so I can run power tools more readily.

The backyard
It turns out there is no fence on the south side of the house. I'm also not entirely sure where my lot ends on that side. The neighbor there has a fence up, but it may not be at his property line.


The previous owners planted tomatoes in the veggie garden this year. That'll be mighty convenient when I move in a month and am looking for a snack.

There's also a raspberry bush behind the garden. And room for me to plant canes from the bushes here in Urbana. I don't think I'll get three pints of berries next summer like I did this year, but I ought to do pretty well the following year.

I think the soil is pretty sandy. It certainly is not the black loam I'm used to seeing. It's rather reddish-yellow. Could be sandy. Could be clay. Need to do some homework on that subject.

There is a junebug flying around my apartment tonight, in case you wanted to know. I'm *not* going to take a picture of it.