Wednesday, December 5 - Ups and Downs

Today has been a day of ups and downs.

Temps were up today to about 47, now they're down, and we have snow. It has been extremely windy and with temps around 32, the wind chill is in the low 20s. The roofs of nearby houses are white -- it looks like frost. Good news though -- by the weekend it will be up into the 60 degree range. Icing on the roads tonight (rain earlier has frozen on) makes travel dangerous, but we don't have to go anywhere until tomorrow morning when we go up to Frankfort to pick up Barry's car from the collision repair shop. We've been driving around a 2007 PT Cruiser -- wonderful handling car, solid as a rock, and fun to drive. But tomorrow we return to reality.

The closing on the house moved even closer today, then we got the news that our plan would not fly with our morgage company's lawyer. Up and down. NO, we haven't closed yet, and now it really looks like we're not going to -- we're almost out of options, and it's not looking good. We do have a list of about 20 other properties in the area that we are going to start looking at, and tomorrow after we get back from Frankfort, we're going to begin packing to move. We have no idea where we will be a month from now, but the handwriting is on the wall -- it probably won't be Butchertown.

Now the bittersweet -- our neighbor, Joann, brought us up some home-baked goodies. She probably thinks we own the house. It will be painful leaving nice folks like those we've met here -- Larry and Joann, Ron and Thelma, Laura, Herschel, Frank and Rita, Steve, Mike and Shirley, and all the others on Butchertown Road whose real names we may not even know -- like "Mutt" for example.

The View from the Front Porch may become the "Glimpse from the Housing Development" -- I have no idea. But I will continue to write.

When this is all over and we are finally settled -- SOMEWHERE, I will probably email close friends with all the problems we've had trying to buy our "dream house." I have kept a list of occurences that have postponed the closing repeatedly. But the people we've met have always been friendly and helpful. The situation stinks, but whomever buys this house will have wonderful neighbors. And well-trained fish in the pond.

Forgive me if I seem down -- overall it has NOT been a good day, but there is always tomorrow.