STILL AT IT!

WOW... Grandma would have been 112 today!


May 20, 2012





Can you believe that July is over!  It has been an extremely busy July with our family reunion, the fire near our house, Mark's accident and a recent overwhelming church calling.

 

July 31, 2012



 

So how is the house coming?  "SLOW  BUT SURE" our mantra.  The interior painting is ongoing, the orange living room is GONE!  Today the broken window in the living room was replaced.  Yesterday the pyracantha hedge was trimmed along with the ditch bank.   We are still trying to get the sprinkler system  in before summer is over.  With such a hot summer we have been busy just moving sprinklers around.

We cut down the middle apricot tree (which was dead) and now all that is left in the playground is a jungle. Grandma's trumpet vine is over 50ft, all tangled in the trees and over the fence.  We did find a rotted piece of the original baseboard under the ivy along the foundation - it will help when we have material milled for the historic restoration phase of the project.  (Mark said he would like to shoot whoever took the original millwork out :-) )

It was nice to have Aunt Dora and Aunt Meda stop and visit this past month.  Great stories, history, and house details.  Again PLEASE SEND ANY PHOTOS OF THE HOUSE...INSIDE OR OUT!!! 



Shelley "in action" - ridding the house of pyracantha, June 2012



We have removed 3 dumpsters (14 cubic yards each) of mostly yard clippings.  Including several wheelbarrows filled with clippings growing into the "family room" windows!  Yes, that's me in action.  Wow, pyracantha is very prickly!!!  Hopefully we can haul the rest of the overgrowth via a pick up! 

We are hoping to have the "rock garden" / "strange planter" removed sometime soon!  The decking in the photo to the left has been removed.  We had some of the deteriorating bricks replaced.   On the south side near the kitchen door I found a few of the grand children's name scratched into some bricks.  I need to take some pictures to post.  It is fun to remember those family gatherings when we would be there running around the house and playing tag or hide-n-go-seek, in the dark!  I remember hiding behind the large shrubs under the living room window, along with all the spiders.

The plan was to have it rented by August...BUT still more to do!  I am glad that when I am there...I have such fond memories.  Okay some days are better than others.  But I am happy to have kept this treasure in the family.

FAMILY FUN!

Another great week at Grandma's!  As we pulled up today to change the sprinkler I could see the grass getting greener, YEAH!  The grooming is starting to show promise and the debris piles are getting higher.

One of the greatest things this week at Grandma's was FAMILY!  Our son Cort and his wife Kristen and their children spent Memorial Day with us working in the yard.  Uncle Glen and Aunt Kaye stopped by also.  We walked through the house and Uncle Glen was a treasure of  information.   On Wednesday I had three of my Aunts come.  Aunt Ramona came and worked and worked...I had a hard time keeping up with her!  Aunt Reva supervised us, Aunt Meda came and shared memories of her days living in the house.  I loved her stories of Grandpa Able taking her everywhere!   Kurt and his children brought Aunt Meda, thanks Kurt.  They all brought love, joy and support along with excitement and appreciation for this endeavor.

Jack Clarkson  (Aunt Mary's son) contacted us and had a picture of a home in Orem that looks just like the Able home.  It was built the same year.  He and his wife went through this restored home.  He called me and gave me the address, we drove by and it was fun to see what the Able jewel can look like again.  Thanks Jack for the email and the pictures.  With all this information and involvement we will turn things around and keep giving this home TLC.  We were changing the water this afternoon (no sprinkler system yet!) and  Aunt Rosa's daughter from Portland, OR, stopped by with her daughter and son-in-law...WOW, family is "comin' out of the woodwork"!!!  GREAT!!!  Keep on coming!  Thanks Aunt Ramona & Uncle Glen for spreading the word.

 

Cort, Kristen & Annie Walker

     

We also received comments on the blog from my niece Diane and cousin Karen...thanks for the encouragement.  Vickie and Artie are in touch on Facebook.

Aunt Meda, Aunt Ramon, Curt Fraughton & his daughter & son-in-law and the birthday boy!

This week we will be contacting painters, roofers, plumbers, and a dumpster company!  Also we will be cleaning and re-roofing the greenhouse.   There is still much to do in the yard and the work.. ."SLOW BUT SURE"!  That is becoming our new mantra!

Love to you all!

Shelley & Mark



PROGRESS!!! Slow, but sure!

Wednesday was a BIG day at Grandma's house!  All the quakies were removed.  The lawn is looking worse but now you can see the house.  The neighbor's all came out and shared their opinions (positive). 

More yard work: filling holes from the old, old, old scrubs and from the cedar trees on the north east corner of the house (counting the growth rings they were over 80 years old), cutting down  more "junk" trees, and a dead apricot tree (in the play area)..followed by weeding and weeding and weeding!  This is just part of the outside work we are planning.

We are hoping to post a weekly update.  Keep checking back!  We will include pictures of the inside and the yard.

Have a great weekend!  We will decorate graves on Sunday.  Saturday and Monday will probably be spent at Grandma's.

Love,
Shelley



It's back...with no quakies!



REALLY..IT IS BACK IN THE FAMILY!!!

Okay...enough false alarms.  After the last post we had an inspection on the home...and we found a lot of hidden problems.  We went back to the bank and made another offer.  It was rejected.  We told them that we had spent enough time and money and that we were withdrawing the offer.  Mark thought that they might come back in a few months and want to take the offer. Well it wasn't a few months...it was a few days!  After 8 long months....it is back in the family!

We have been busy cutting down quakies, getting bids for a sprinkler system, trimming scrubs (some have been there for years) and cleaning.  We wish that we could irrigate, (I would love to run through the water and play in the wading pool) but the water shares were sold with the house!   So now I'll  have to run through the sprinklers.  You can drop by anytime and join me.

Tomorrow we will have all the quakies removed (YEAH).  We wanted to have an open house on Memorial Day, but  decided  to wait until we have more done.  After our children walked through they really thought that we were nuts, and too old to take this on, THANKS!   Every neighbor that walks by comments that we have a "big job". Thanks, we didn't know that.  My dad is starting to come on board.  He helped mow the lawn last week.  He seemed a bit nostalgic when he took a break and sat on the porch.  He has been wonderful to bring us garden tools and drinks.

BEFORE: Parkway looking towards the house

AFTER: Parkway without the quakies looking North...others quakies gone or will be gone before end of week!!!

Yesterday (90 deg.)  I worked outside for too long and then I went  inside and started cleaning.  The home was so nice and cool (no A/C).  While washing the front window, I remembered all the great meals in the dining room with many of you.  I could hear Uncle Glen playing honky-tonk on the piano and could almost see Grandma sitting in her chair, crocheting.   Yes, I get nostaglic when I'm there.  I would love to move in and call this home, but for now we will rent it.

I'd like to ask all of you if you would  be willing to share pictures and memories of this home. I asked Dad for any photos that he had and he said that he didn't have any????    He thinks that the orginal stairs went up through what is now Grandma's bedroom.(?)  We would  really appreciate any other information on the homes orginal floorplan. We are excited to hear from you.  We want to add  this information/photos to the blog and  hopefully get  more descendants involved.

In a few years we will open the home up to all.  We will be posting pictures of the progress.

Love,
Shelley

PS.  Please pass this blog/information along to your family.

PATIENCE...something I must need to learn!

Hi Family,

Still no word from the bank! Still hoping that this effort will materialize.

I keep driving by and can see that this home is begging for some TLC .

Keep your fingers crossed, so we can all go back and enjoy those tender memories of Grandma H.

Hope you are all enjoying this "New Year"!

Love,
Shelley


shellwalk@gmail.com

Two More Days!!!

Dear Family,

We hope that you had a Merry Christmas! It was our "off year" but we did get together with 3 of the 4 families for lunch on Saturday. We had Nicks family with us from El Paso, it was good for them to be with family. Nick called from Afghanistan and was a little homesick (for some reason)? That is our third son, he is in the Air Force and this is his second deployment.

Anyway...enough about our Christmas. We heard from the agent that the bank will be out of the office until the 28th. They got our last offer and said that the docs all look good...so we might know before the new year! We will still have to do the inspections and I hope that Mark won't be around when they are done. He says that the only reason he is willing to do another restoration is to keep it in the family, he was hoping that he could give it to me for Christmas! I don't think that he wanted to do any shopping! He is a keeper!

Have a Happy New Year and we will keep those of you that are interested updated!

Lots of Love,
Shelley

!

33 Minutes On Hold

Hi Family,

Yesterday Mark spent 33 minutes on hold with the bank that holds that loan of Grandma's house. He decided to hang up and when he called back the recording said that the office was closed.

We wanted to give you an update. Not much news. We wish that we had used a different agent. We have to call her to get any updates. She finally gave us the banks phone number and the contact person so we could make some calls. The bank is doing another appraisal and if it comes in $10,000 less then our offer would do.

Getting a little discouraged, but not giving up. I won't admit that my Dad was right when he told "me that I was crazy for wanting to get the house back in the family."

I have tired to make contact with the previous generation (the Abel's). But like Charlotte "Munns" (Aunt Lotties daughter) Grandma's sister, reminded me that many of those cousins are deceased. So it looks like if the house is to be saved it is up to this generation.

I would appreciate any comments from you if you think this is worth pursuing or if you have any questions.

This is getting to be that busy time of year, but all I want for Christmas is to make this happen and to have our son come home safe from Afghanistan! Maybe, I should go sit on Santa's lap and ask him for it!

Have a good day.

Lots of Love,
Shelley