Almost home

I spent more time behind the wheel of my car in the last two days than I have for months. I left early yesterday morning for a noon meeting with Lauren and his wife Michelle to look at an apartment. According to Google, it was a five and a half hour drive. Giving myself a little extra time to get lost, I left home at 5:30. I made good time, only missed one turn and got to the property a little after 11:00.

There are two houses on the property. I knew the apartment was on the second floor, so it had to be the house in back. There were a couple of people outside the house in front and within minutes, Gretchen (I now know 2 Gretchens!) came over and introduced herself. She and her SO Joe live in the front house and take care of the property for Lauren and Michelle. Another gentleman rents the apartment on the end of the front house. Diana rents the first floor of the house in back. Diana has 4 cats, Gretchen and Joe have a dog.

Gretchen gave me the grand tour of the property, lots of land, a fire pit for summer gatherings. She invited me into her home. Some nice, artsy touches in there. Even though she has keys, we decided to wait for Lauren and Michelle before looking at the apartment. But, from outside, this is the house where Gretchen and Joe live. The other apartment is on the left. Joe and Gretchen's door is all the way to the right.

This photo makes the property look desolate, but it's showing driveway and parking areas. Everything else is green! The house in back is divided into upstairs and downstairs apartments. Each has it's own entrance. You can barely make out the addition for the door to the second floor way over on the left. The downstairs door is around the corner. Love the wagon wheel! Gretchen likes how it looks but it has made a big rust mark on the siding. she doesn't like that part.

I was going to include a couple of interior photos from the ad, but Lauren has deleted the listing now that the place is rented. It's two bedrooms. One will be my bedroom, the other will be my studio. Since I don't even own a TV, a living room is something I really have no use for. So the traditional living room space will be my office. The sliders to the deck are in this room. There is a small dining area. Rather than bring my dining room set which is rather large, I am going to sell it. I have a small bistro set with 2 chairs and a glass-topped table. That's all the dining room I need. The bathroom has washer/dryer hook-ups so I'll be bringing my machines.

Lauren and Michelle are very nice folks. They live just up the road, but Gretchen and Joe are there to take care of anything I might need. They also take care of the grounds and the plowing. Gretchen has a couple of gardens and is very down-to-Earth. I really like her. When I went back up there this morning, she came out to visit for a bit and told me she was really happy that I was moving in. I asked if I could take her picture, but it is not very flattering.

It takes a little over half an hour to drive to work from here, longer come winter, but it is well worth it. Reasonable rent, friendly folks who have no objections to cats. Can't beat it.